The Chief Executive Officer of Access holdings Herbert Wigwe, his wife Chizoba, a son and Abimbola Ogunbajo, former President of Nigerian Exchange group plc and 3 others, are feared dead in a helicopter crash between the borders of Nevada and California.
A search and recovery operation is already going on.
They are reported to have been en route to Boulder City, Nevada from from Palm Springs, California, on Friday night when the helicopter conveying them crashed at about 10 pm, near a small town in California’s Mojave Desert.
Authorities said they have not been able to locate any survivors, and the cause of the crash remains unknown. The U.S. National Transportation Board has sent a team to the site to investigate the accident.
“NTSB launching go team to investigate Friday’s crash of an Airbus Helicopters EC-130 near Halloran Springs, California,” it posted on its X handle. “Team to arrive on scene today.”
Born on August 15, 1966, Wigwe would go on to become a banker and entrepreneur, ultimately becoming one of the biggest names and leaders in Nigeria’s banking and financial sector. He was also the Group Managing Director/CEO of Access Bank Plc, succeeding his business partner, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, from January 2014 till April 2022.
Herbert Wigwe is also the founder of Wigwe University, a budding tertiary institution located in Rivers State, where he hailed from.
He is also an alumnus of the Harvard Business School Executive Management Programme and holds a master’s in Banking and Finance from the University College of North Wales; another master’s in Financial Economics from the University of London, and a B.Sc. in Accounting from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Reports about the tragic crash have sent shockwaves across Nigeria with the news already dominating conversations.
