An alleged close friend of the late banker and former Group CEO of Access Holdings, Herbert Wigwe, has revealed the late banker’s mission in the United States before the helicopter crash.

Jackson Ude, who appeared in a Zoom interview with a US-based media outlet, disclosed that Wigwe was in the states to watch the Super Bowl.

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The Super Bowl is the annual league championship game of the National Football League of the United States.

Udeh said Herbert Wigwe has been his close friend for over 15 years and was hoping to meet up with him this weekend.

“He told me that he was going to be in the US. He was going to be attending the Super Bowl.”

This was, however, not meant to be as the Airbus Eurocopter EC130 helicopter, which took off from Palm Springs at 8:45 p.m. last Friday en route to Boulder City, Nevada, was chartered from Orbit Air, LLC in Burbank.

The French-made helicopter crashed south of I-15 near Halloran Springs Road, about 75 miles northeast of Barstow, according to Michael Graham of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash.

“I know that sometimes he uses a helicopter for some travels, but I didn’t know he would be using something as small as this,” Udeh continued.

Udeh affirmed that Wigwe was traveling with his wife, son, and a former chair of NGX Group, Bamofin Bola Adebanjo, as well as two pilots.

“He had a lot of passion for his banking career. And then he veered into philanthropy and also became a promoter of a university called Wigwe University, where he hoped to grow future African leaders,” Udeh stated.

It was also disclosed that the 57-year-old Wigwe was also passionate about American football and regularly attends Super Bowl games.

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“He was someone I hold dear and very close to me. I talk to him like a brother,” Udeh concluded.

The oldest of his two surviving children recently graduated from New York University, a private university in New York.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is now investigating the crash, claimed the ill-fated helicopter was neither not equipped with a voice recorder nor a flight deck recorder.

Meanwhile, Access Holdings Plc has formally announced the passing of Wigwe, the founding Group Executive Officer, and revealed its plans to shop for his replacement.

Rtn. Victor Ojelabi

Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.