Sola Faleye, Personal Assistant to Herbert Wigwe, the late Group Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank Plc, has described how he nearly avoided the helicopter crash that killed his boss, the CEO’s wife, son, and business colleague, Abimbola Ogunbajo.
Faleye stated this at the Night of Tribute held in Lagos on Wednesday.
NewsCentral Africa reports that Wigwe died on February 9, 2024, in a helicopter crash in the United States, alongside his wife and son as well as a former Chairman of the Nigerian Exchange Group Plc (NGX Group) Abimbola Ogunbanjo. Two crew members also died in the ill-fated crash.
He stated that he had planned to travel by helicopter but changed his mind, preferring to travel to Vegas by road with the luggage. At the same moment, Wigwe, his wife, kid, and Ogunbajo boarded the helicopter for the same destination.
Faleye said, “It was a sweet journey. We flew 11 hours from London. I remember in the middle of the air, I walked up to him. I said, ‘Sir, how comfortable are you at night flying choppers? I’ve never done it before. The app allocation system for flying choppers, I have never done it before,’ and he said this is America, they have a navigation system for flying choppers at night and I went back to my seat. And we landed. Everybody was filled with joy that we were finally almost there.
“We sat waiting to be cleared by immigration. So coming out, we had two vans waiting, One was taking us to go aboard the chopper. The other one took our luggage because they could not go on the chopper. Throughout my years of working with him, I’ve always told myself that flying that way is not a luxury for me. I am on duty. And as they were loading the luggage. And this thought came to mind. That’s OK, you fly chopper one. One hour you are there.
“The next three and half hours, the luggage will not come. Will I go to bed? No. I still have to sit down and wait for those luggage to come. I’m like, so why not just go with the luggage then, get there and deliver it to him and others in the room. Like I said, I always reason in the line of duty.
“And I walked up to him. I said, ‘Sir, I think it’s safer and secure for me to just ride and bring the luggage to you.’ He said it was a brilliant idea. And I said, “Safe flight.”
