Oh! He loved the Super Bowl.
For as long as anyone would recall, Wigwe never failed to attend the Super Bowl.
He would attend with his close-knit family, most of who live in London, United Kingdom. To him, attending these games with them was usually a time of bonding with his family.
Herbert Wigwe, who was the Chief Executive Officer Of Access Holdings, owners of Access Bank Plc, would always go with family and friends to share in this excitement.
For Wigwe and four others, they were on their way to the Super Bowls in Las Vegas, United States on Friday when they met their untimely death.
They wouldn’t be part of the excited spectators when the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers play on Sunday, February 11.
The Super Bowl is the annual league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States.
It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966.
The game has been played on the second Sunday in February of every year since 2022.
Besides Wigwe, quite a number of other affluent and prominent Nigerians are known to be ardent fans of the game and like Wigwe, they also make it a habit to always attend.
According to THEWILL, the late entrepreneur had departed Lagos and made a stopover at his home in London to get his family to join him as was the tradition, for the trip to the US.
Together with Ogunbanjo, they all flew from London to Los Angeles and then chartered a chopper from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.
However, there were no landing for private jets in Las Vegas because of the huge crowd attending the Super bowl. So, they were doing helicopter shuttles for all the private jet owners.
The helicopter Wigwe and his family flew in had flown back and forth four times with several VIPs. The chopper took off from Palm Springs Airport but somewhere in San Bernardino County, a border city between Nevada and California, the chopper disappeared.
It was later discovered to have crashed in Southern California’s Mojave Desert. The helicopter which was operated by California-based charter company Orbic Air, took off around 8:45 p.m and crashed just after 10 p.m. It caught fire upon impact.
Eyewitnesses reported that there was rain and a wintry mix when the crash happened. The NTSB is investigating the cause of the crash and have collected evidence. As at the time of this report, sources close to this newspaper revealed that some bodies have been recovered and they all have been identified to be the aforementioned.
That Wigwe will be sorely missed would be simply putting it mildly. He has been described by close associates as a hardworking, selfless and kind person who supports Small Businesses Enterprises, SMEs. He initiated platforms and solutions where women can fully harness their potential and thrive in their various fields.
His love for the art world was to say, the least, second to none. The late stylish banker has a pride of place among top art collectors in Nigeria. He collects art as a passion, both favouring foreign and indigenous creations. His offices across the continent and his homes are adorned with various intriguing art works that do not come cheap.
He gave his father, Pastor Shyngle Wigwe, a former director of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), credit for helping him cultivate his love for arts.
A philanthropist, he founded the Herbert Onyewumbu Wigwe (HOW) foundation, a social enterprise that focuses on youth empowerment through leadership and mentorship and on health, specifically malaria and prostate cancer.
Also, through Access Bank, he initiated a collaboration with UNICEF to offer support to vulnerable children, orphans and internally displaced persons in the northern part of Nigeria.
To raise awareness for this purpose, the bank organizes the annual high-profile Access Bank/UNICEF Charity Shield Polo tournament.
The Ikwerre man from Rivers State had a heart for educational pursuits. Little wonder, he vigorously pursued his project, Wigwe University which is situated in his home state. The university was all set to disrupt the higher education system in Nigeria with their approach to teaching and learning.
Wigwe and his wife left behind three children who were not on board the ill-fated chopper.
