He was the last person to see all the six persons on board the Airbus EC130 helicopter alive.
Mr Wigwe, his wife Chizoba, first son Chizi, and former group chairman of the Nigerian Exchange Group, Abimbola Ogunbanjo; died in a helicopter crash on February 9, 2024.
The Airbus EC130 helicopter took off from Palm Springs Airport in California and was headed for Boulder City, Nevada when it went down near Halloran Springs in California.
A total of six persons onboard the aircraft died.
Recounting his last moments with them all, Sola Faleye, who was the Personal Assistant to the late Group Chief Executive Officer, Access Holdings Plc, Herbert Wigwe, spoke on Wednesday at the night of tributes held at Eko Hotels and Suites in Lagos.
Faleye said during a flight with his late boss at night from London, UK to Palm Springs, California, US, he walked up to him midair and expressed concern about flying at night in a helicopter.
He said Wigwe told him, “This is America. They have navigation system for flying helicopter at night.”
However, Faleye recalled his encounter with late Bimbo Ogunbanjo, who also died in the crash.
Faleye recalled, “Five of us embarked on that journey. I remember Mr Bimbo chatted me on Tuesday that he wanted to come with us. I told him my boss’s journey wasn’t straightforward; sometimes, he could get in the air and divert somewhere else. He (Bimbo Ogunbanjo) said he would wait. I said he (Wigwe) was still going to Abuja later that day and we would leave at midnight that day and he (Ogunbanjo) said he was going to wait. I still tried to make him understand that we would still be in London on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, but he (Ogunbanjo) said he would stay in his house and wait. I really don’t know why I was trying to convince him not to come but we all went on the journey and we got to London.”
Faleye said he was supposed to fly in the ill-fated helicopter from Palm Springs to Las Vegas but later decided go by road since he would still have to wait for three and a half hours for the luggage whenever they landed by chopper that is just an hour flight. So, he opted to go by road with the van conveying their luggage.
When he made the suggestion to his boss, Wigwe said, “brilliant idea.”
“Two and the half hours into my own journey I was a bit sleepy in the car. The chopper went down at 10:08pm (February 9). At exactly 10:09 pm, something just pricked me and I was like ‘They should have landed in my own estimation.”
“I called him, it wasn’t ringing. I called madam’s three numbers they didn’t ring. I called Chizi, I called Mr Bimbo. So I started sweating in the car. I was afraid. I was still on the road going to Vegas.
“I tried to reach Mr Aig. He arrived earlier than us. He was sleeping. I kept calling but couldn’t reach him. I called the driver that was to pick us on landing from the chopper. And he said 30 minutes ago, he couldn’t see them on the radar anymore.”
