Renowned banker and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Access Holdings, Herbert Wigwe, his wife, Chizoba, son, Chizi and former group chairman of Nigerian Exchange Group PLC (NGX Group), Abimbola Ogunbanjo were believed to be among the six passengers in a helicopter that crashed in the U.S. early Saturday Nigerian time (late Friday local time).
Reports by New York Times indicate that a total of six people were in the helicopter when it crashed near the California-Nevada border.
No survivors have been located as of the time of this report.
Born August 15, 1966 to Pastor Shyngle Wigwe, Herbert Onyewumbu Wigwe, CFR had a degree in accountancy from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, MA in Banking and Finance from the University College of North Wales (now Bangor), and an MSc in Financial Economics from the University of London. We was an alumnus of the Harvard Business School Executive Management Program.
Herbert was the Group Managing Director/CEO of Access Bank plc, one of Nigeria’s top five banking institutions, after succeeding his business partner, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede from January 2014 to April 2022.
Abimbola Ogunbanjo is the son of the late Chris Ogunbanjo who died last year at the age of 99.
He was the former Group Chairman of Nigerian Exchange Group Plc, (NGX Group), the non-operating holding company that emerged from the demutualisation of The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) from 2021 to 2022.
Prior to this, he was the President of the National Council of the NSE from 2017 to 2021. Until his death, he was the Managing Partner of the renowned, leading corporate law firm founded by his father, Chris Ogunbanjo LP (Solicitors), a firm he joined in 1990 after a spell as a credit analyst with Chase Manhattan Bank (Nigeria) Limited.
He was a board member of several multi national corporations and non-profit organizations including Beta Glass Plc and the Advisory Board of the University of Buckingham Centre for Extractive Studies. He previously served on the Board of GTL Registrars Limited, AIICO Insurance Plc and ConocoPhillips Limited amongst others.
