CEO of major Nigerian bank killed in California helicopter crash, director-general of WTO says
The CEO of one of Nigeria’s largest banks was killed Friday along with his wife and son when a helicopter they were in crashed near Interstate 15 in Southern California’s Mojave Desert.
Access Bank CEO Herbert Wigwe was one of six people on board when the plane crashed shortly after 10 p.m. Bamofin Abimbola Ogunbanjo, former chairman of the NGX Group, the Nigerian stock exchange, was also killed.
Their deaths were confirmed on Saturday by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former Nigerian finance minister who is now director-general of the World Trade Organization.
“Terribly saddened by the news of the terrible loss of Herbert Wigwe… his wife and son, as well as Bimbo Ogunbanjo in a helicopter crash,” Okonjo-Iweala wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “May the souls of the departed rest in perfect peace.”
The death of Wigwe, 57, shocked many in Nigeria and in the banking sector. He was widely seen as a leader in the industry, having been involved with two of the nation’s largest banks, including Guaranty Trust Bank, where he previously served as executive director.
Under Wigwe’s leadership, Access Bank’s assets and presence grew across borders in several African countries.
His death is “a terrible blow” to Nigeria and the African banking sector, Nigerian presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga wrote on acquisitions. Onanuga added.
Wigwe’s interests also extended to the education sector. His private university, founded in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region, where he came from, is expected to open in September. Last year he said that university was “an opportunity for me to give back to society.”
“This is surreal and I have no words,” Festus Keyamo, Nigeria’s minister of aviation and space development, wrote in a post on , his staff, friends across Nigeria and relatives.”
The crash happened east of I-15 near Halloran Springs Road and not far from the California-Nevada border. Halloran Springs Road crosses the highway in an area known to travelers for an abandoned gas station with a sign that reads “Lo Gas” and “Eat.”
It is a remote part of the desert, with an elevation of almost 914.40 meters, and about a 100 to 130 kilometer drive from Las Vegas. California Highway Patrol logs show there was rain and snow in the area around the time of the crash.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department would not confirm if anyone was killed or how many people were in the helicopter, but said in an emailed statement that no survivors had been located and coroner’s investigators were on the scene.
The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that the helicopter, a Eurocopter EC 120, had six people on board. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The NTSB said investigators would arrive Saturday and begin gathering information.
KABC-TV reported that the helicopter took off from Palm Springs Airport around 8:45 p.m. and was headed to Boulder City, Nevada. Boulder City is about 25 miles southeast of Las Vegas, where the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers will play in Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday.
The crash occurred just three days after a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter crashed in the mountains outside San Diego during historic rainstorms, killing five Marines.
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Beam reported from Sacramento, California, and Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria. Associated Press writer Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed.