The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has mourned the death of the Group Chief Executive Officer, Access Holdings Plc, Herbert Wigwe.
Wigwe reportedly died alongside his wife and son in a helicopter crash in California near the Nevada border, United States of America on Saturday.
A source told PUNCH Online that, Wigwe had traveled to the US for the Super Bowl event in Las Vegas scheduled for Sunday.
The source said, “A whole family was wiped out.”
Reacting in a post where he shared pictures he took with the deceased on his X handle, Keyamo said the news of Wigwe’s death and his wife and son was devastating.
He stated that the deceased visited his officer earlier in the week before he jetted out of the country.
“The reported tragic loss of my friend, brother and not-far-away neighbour in Lagos, Herbert Wigwe, the co-founder of Access Bank, the CEO of Access Holdings and the founder of Wigwe University, is very devastating. He was in my office earlier this week (where we took the pictures below) and actually left my office to fly out of the country and never came back. I am also shocked to learn his wife, son and other friends were involved in this tragedy.
“We were on the verge of announcing something big for the aviation sector, the reason he actually came to the office with his entire team, both from Access and Wigwe University. This is surreal and I am lost for words.
“May Almighty God comfort his aged parents and sibling (who were also my neighbours in Lagos for many years as a very young lawyer in Anthony Village), his immediate family members, his staff, friends across Nigeria and dependents,” he wrote.
Also, the Director-General, World Trade Orgainsation, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, described Wigwe’s death as a terrible loss.
Okonjo-Iweala consoled the deceased’s family and the Access Bank Group employees and Management in an X post.
She stated, “Terribly saddened by the news of the terrible loss of Herbert Wigwe, Group CEO Access Bank HerbertOWigwe, his wife and son as well as Bimbo Ogunbanjo in a helicopter crash.
“My deepest sympathies and condolences to the Wigwe family, the Ogunbanjo family, Access Bank Group employees and Management myaccessbank, and my younger Brother Herbert’s partner Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede. May the souls of the departed rest in perfect peace.”