Preliminary investigation by the United States has revealed that wintry weather conditions could have caused the helicopter crash that killed Access Bank CEO, Herbert Wigwe.
This was revealed in a statement on Sunday at 3 am Nigerian time by US authorities.
Wigwe, his son and wife alongside the former group chairperson of Nigerian Exchange Group Plc, Abimbola Ogunbanjo died in the helicopter crash on Friday evening.
A National Transportation Safety Board member, Michael Graham gave an update and said:
“The crew consisted of a pilot in command and a safety pilot. The accident flight was operated by Orbic Air LLC as a Part 135 charter flight
“Witness reports of the weather conditions at the time of the accident suggest rain and a wintry mix.
“The helicopter was not equipped with a cockpit voice recorder or a flight data recorder. This helicopter was not required to be equipped with those types of recording devices.”
He added:
“As far as we know, from what was reported from witnesses that there was fire when the aircraft did contact the terrain
We have a representative from the NTSB’s Transportation Disaster Assistance division at the scene and she is currently working with the family members of those who lost their lives.
We currently have a meteorologist working on our team and we were working to analyse and get the exact weather conditions at that time. Of course, that’s out in the middle of the desert so we’ll have to find the closest reporting stations nearby to be able to give an accurate report
Our team methodically and systematically reviews all evidence and considers all potential factors to determine the probable cause.”
Recall that Access Bank has since confirmed the death of the bank CEO in an announcement made on Sunday.
In other news, the Chief of Staff to Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila has been lambasted on social media after he called for a ban on social media.
Gbajabiamila had made the call at a recent event. He claimed that social media is a menace that must be banned.
Reacting, Nigerian journalist, Rufai Oseni accused Gbajabiamila of hypocrisy.
According to him, when Gbajabiamila was in opposition, he called the Peoples Democratic Party-led government vagabonds on Twitter.
Rufai wrote:
“The same people that called a government in power Vagabonds on social media are the ones saying social media is a menace, when they were menacing on social media they had selective amnesia Abi?”
Also reacting, fiery activist and skitmaker, Mr Macaroni slammed Gbajabiamila over his call for ban of social media.
He shared screenshots showing Gbajabiamila’s uncouth attacks against PDP government in the past.
He wrote:
“Mr @femigbaja This was you when Social Media was sweeting you.
It is evident that you and this accidental and desperate government of yours regard Nigerians as Imbeciles!! Well we are not!!! The people are suffering!!!
Fix up and put an end to this ridiculousness!!!!”
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