UPDATE: Tragedy as Minister, wife, son die in road crash

The Minister of State for Labour, Mr James Ocholi, SAN, his wife and son, are dead. Ocholi and his son died on Sunday in a ghastly motor accident along Kaduna-Abuja expressway. His wife, Mrs Ocholi, who was also travelling with them was in coma when she was rushed to a hospital in Kaduna. She died hours later. The vehicle in which they were travelling was said to have somersaulted several times as a result of burst tyre. However, the minister’s driver was reported to have survived but in critical condition.

Also, some of his security aides were also reported to be in critical condition. The corpses of the Minister and his son as well as the injured persons were later moved to the National Hospital for women and children, Abuja by ambulances belonging to the Federal Road Safety Corp, FRSC. A road safety official, who spoke to Daily Times on the condition of anonymity on Sunday evening, confirmed the accident as well as the deaths of the Minister and his son. The source said that it took the FRSC team some time to retrieve the bodies of the dead from the wrecked vehicle. Confirming the accident in a telephone call, the Special Assistant to the FRSC Corps Marshall on Media and Publicity, Mr Bisi Kazeem, said the crash was caused by tyre burst. The death of Ocholi has already thrown his people in Kogi State into mourning mood.

The late Minister of State was among those who contested for the APC governorship ticket in Kogi state during party’s primaries, which was won then by the now deceased Prince Abubakar Audu. Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, announced the death of Mrs Ocholi hours after the accident. “It is with great sadness that the Kaduna State Ministry of Health and Human Services further announces the death of Mrs. Ocholi at Doka Hospital, who was in coma since the accident near Rijana, along the Kaduna-Abuja Road. Earlier, the death of Minister Ocholi and his son were announced. “May their souls rest in perfect peace, Amen,” the governor stated. Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state reacted to the tragedy hours after it happened on Sunday, with the President expressing shock and sadness at the death of Ocholi, his wife and son.

President Buhari described the Minister’s death as untimely, regretting that Nigeria had lost a key component of the CHANGE agenda. “Barrister Ocholi was an accomplished and patriotic Nigerian, who was keen to accept the call to service at a time his country needed him,” President Buhari said, adding that in the few months he had been in office, the late minister of state had already begun to distinguish himself through his commitment and dedication to his portfolio. A statement by the Senior Continued from page 1 Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, noted that the late Ocholi had had a long record of political association with President Buhari. President Buhari, according to the statement, also condoled with the government and people of Kogi State, whom he described as having lost a distinguished and irreplaceable son. He prayed that God would comfort them and grant them the grace to bear the loss.

On his part, the Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi has expressed shock over the sudden death of the Minister, describing it as a monumental loss for the state and the country at large. The late minister hailed from Ogbabede/Abocho in Dekina local government area of Kogi state. “Late Ocholi was a pragmatic, dynamic, humane and brilliant law officer who was known around the world for his dexterous approach to legal and political issues and one of the most unswerving constitutional lawyers Nigeria has ever produced,’’ the governor said of the late minister. The statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Kingsley