I did not set out to write on this; I could not have. I already had something else to write about. But as is always with journalism and opinion writing, never say never. Events conspire to happen in such dizzying fashions that they make nonsense of your plan. And as they happen, you have to respond to what is topical and of likely interest to your audience. That is how the phrase STOP PRESS comes into play. When I first read the story of the probable death of Herbert Wigwe (probable because at the time, no Nigerian news medium was sure and so could not be definitive), I was beside myself with sadness and grief for much of Saturday and Sunday. By Sunday night, I decided to scribble a two or three paragraph tribute on Facebook in his honour. And when I started, I realized I could develop it into an article for Reflections!.
I am pained in a very special way by the death of Dr. Herbert Wigwe; his wife, Doreen; son, Chizi; and three others (including a no less important Abimbola Christopher Ogunbanjo) in an ill-fated chopper crash in far away California, United States. In a way, his death in the early hours of Saturday (Nigerian time) is an eclipse of great dimensions to the black race. I will explain shortly. Just about the same time the whistle blew for the start of the 9th edition of the Access Bank-sponsored Lagos Marathon, at 6am on Saturday February 10, 2024, the final whistle on earth also blew for Wigwe, the brains behind the marathon. It was his visionary spirit that saw the bank decide to fund the sporting event nine years ago, which is now being celebrated as a world event. Ironically, he and his co-travelers in the ill fated helicopter were on their way to watch another sporting event, the American Super Bowl.
I began to take interest in Herbert and his bosom friend and business partner, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede when they left Guaranty Trust Bank as executive directors to buy over a struggling Access Bank some 20 two years ago. In the 1980s and 1990s, these men’s surnames, courtesy of their parents, were nationally recognised.
Access Bank, which they moved into as Deputy Managing Director and Managing Director respectively, matters to me. In early 1998 when the bank went public for the first time, I had just lost a job as a Business Editor with a weekly magazine. I was on a N12,000 monthly salary at Grapevine. The Editor paid us half salaries (N6,000 for me), and the publication disappeared from the newsstands. And I had just started my Masters degree programme at the University of Lagos, and looked forward to combining the two with little financial difficulties.
Not knowing what to do with the N6,000 “terminal” salary, I spent N1,400 to acquire 2,000 units of the bank shares (a unit went for N0.70). This was the first company I would be co-owning (forget about the value of my shares for a moment). It also marked the beginning of my moving from only reporting what was happening in the capital market in Nigeria to also ‘trading’ in that market. So, for the duo of Aig and Herbert to buy Access Bank and take over its operations, my eyes were on them. So, as to be expected, I am emotionally and sentimentally attached to the Bank…and its leadership. I watched Aig take the bank from the backwaters in the industry to the front row. You could not mention five banks in Nigeria without mentioning Access Bank. And by the time Herbert moved to the driver’s seat, it would appear as if he didn’t have much more to offer. But he unleashed his positive fury, if I may say so, on the direction of the bank and turned it into a continental financial behemoth it is today. And they made so much money for themselves; kudos to their prodigious ability to dream and follow through. Capitalism has a way of being generous with compensating people who dare.
It is not the loss to Access Bank and the financial industry that concerns me most about Herbert’s demise but the dreams he has died with. Herbert never knew me; it did not matter. He embodied much of what I believe in; and it matters. For one, he was not only a believer but also a financier of Kingdom work in Nigeria. When I used to worship at the RCCG City of David, at Victoria Island Extension, Lagos, I used to spot him there. He was a prominent member of the parish. That parish is also a financial powerhouse of RCCG worldwide. It is people like Herbert who make this happen. I wasn’t up close to him but I saw him as just being ordinary; no air, no chip on his shoulders; nothing. And I knew he was a major financial pillar of God’s work.
His Pastor, Idowu Illuyomade speaks glowingly of him, corroborating my position. Hear him: “Herbert was a blessing to God and humanity. His life was profitable to all. He was the chairman of the finance committee of the Building Project (of Trinity Towers, City of David) and I remember when we wanted to start the fund raising. He took us to Eko Atlantic, he put a marquee there, he brought people from America to come and see, and in that event we raised about N600millon. One would have thought he would sit back; he kept going. He told me we’ll do it.
“When this place was ground zero, he paid five years rent for a branch when there was nothing just to assist, then later he said I’ll give you two branches one on the left, one on the right, and he paid five years each (10 years), nobody would support a greenfield, if you’re built, yes, you can go. One of his purposes was to assist us. When we needed to take finance from the bank, when the contractors left the site, he gave us the money. Herbert was supporting us. His wife was also supporting him. He’ll call his wife, bring N20 million, bring N10m and she’ll support. He’ll call his friends too”.
Iluyomade said much more about Herbert including his massive support for the tuition-free school the church runs in Lagos, and his adoption of many children. To some extent, Herbert was a carrier of God’s burden. When you elect to shine light upon a dark place, you are a carrier of God’s burden. God is burdened by the darkness of this world where satan is causing havoc of unimaginable proportion.
The Wigwe University. The Wigwe University. This is where my heart bleeds more for Herbert and for the black race.
There was not much challenge left for Herbert in Access Bank. Even though two years ago he had moved from being the group managing director of the bank to being the group CEO of the holding company, he had conquered what he needed to conquer there; he had achieved whatever ambition he had there; and his position had given him the leverage he needed. He had used the bank to achieve success; now he was going to go for Significance, for Fulfilment, for Purpose, for what he was truly assigned to do on earth. The Wigwe University would have been it for him. I looked forward to the commencement of academic work in the university this September. It was one I was going to have more than a casual interest in. To be sure, fewer things lift a people from backwardness (which this country seems to be happy and comfortable living in) than quality education. And this is an area we are lagging behind. Nigeria offshores billions of US dollars yearly to train her citizens abroad because Nigeria has killed her quality education system which used to attract thousands of foreign students yearly.
When you go to the website of the Wigwe University and read about what it plans to accomplish in the lives of the future generations of Nigerians in particular and Africans in general, you will understand what I am talking about. These things could only have come from a great mind, not one with mundane and trivial mind. The massive land, the layout, the structures in the university speak for themselves. The faculty is already in place with the Vice Chancellor and one of the two Deputy Vice Chancellors are renowned American scholars; and a star studded board of trustees. As the Founder of the University based in his village, Isiokpo, Port Harcourt, Herbert Wigwe went to his people and shared his dream with them. He told them he was building a worldclass university; he was going to put the name of his village on the world map; the university would bring about development in the village, provide direct and indirect jobs to his people; he then urged them to own it. That his village has declared eight days of mourning for him is telling of who he was to them.
Particularly in Nigeria, nay Africa, if you have come across some level of fortune and wealth and your head is in one place, you’re a force for good. Oftentimes, what tends to happen is that you may be interested in being a force for good but lack the leverage to bring to fruition your big dreams; and the dreams are interred with you; or that you’re well leveraged but with scatter brain, and satan uses you to cause unimaginable havoc on the earth. It is humans and human institutions who sponsor terrorism, human trafficking and sexual slavery, drug trafficking, arms trafficking, kidnapping, gem smuggling, grand corruptions, grand destruction of countries and, by extension, the destinies of millions of people.
But Wigwe had both the leverage and the good heart to be a force for good. He was said to be worth $650M. That’s good fortune; and he deployed a lot of his wealth to help humanity. His Foundation is said to have done a lot in lifting its beneficiaries from abject poverty. This is why his death is such a tragedy, not only to his family, business associates, and Access Bank but much more so for many more people.
I have somewhat been consoled by the statement from Atedo Peterside, founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank, that the caliber of people Herbert put in place in the different organs of the university will ensure that the dream does not die with the dreamer. Speaking on Monday on Arise TV’s The Morning Show, Peterside said “Wigwe University was his latest passion. He was in my house this year, we discussed the university. He was clear. He wanted a world-class institution in Nigeria. Some people might think but he did not bring that dream into reality. It depends on what you think the purpose of somebody is. I think the more important thing about the university was to conceive the idea, choose the location and then choose the partners. He chose various people to work with him on that university, and even created evidence. So there is no need to even argue…the building blocks are there for it to continue. Everything Herbert did was for a reason. I now see that it is almost as if the purpose of his life was not just to build a bank, but to build a bank, pull resources from there, develop bigger ideas, focus on where he thought he would make a major contribution in terms of showing us the path. So, there is no argument as to name, location, even some employees are there already. That team that he put together, my guess is that they will even be more committed now than if he was alive. Because they now realize that it is a phenomenal trust; he put them in a position of trust”.
I couldn’t have been more comforted! There is something about me and university! Some seven years ago when I clocked 50, I said that I would have a university at 60! Who knows; maybe Herbert, who I got to know in the course of writing this article was my age mate, heard me; and decided to beat me to it!
The greatest memory his community people, friends, business associates and those who he entrusted with the running of the university can do for him is to ensure that his dream of having the university stays. It would be a worse tragedy if the dream dies with him. As I end, I pray for his children, aged parents (the father, a former Director-General of the Nigerian Television Authority, will be 90 later this year) and all those touched by the news of his passing.
Adieu, Herbert Shingyle Wigwe; the fearless!
Esiere is a former journalist
