The co-founder of Nigeria’s Access Bank, his wife, and his son were among six people killed in a helicopter crash in the Mojave Desert Saturday morning.
Dr. Herbert Wigwe, 57, and the five other victims were headed to Las Vegas to attend Superbowl LVIII when their plane went down around 60 miles from Sin City.
Among those killed was also former chair of the Nigerian Exchange Group Abimbola Ogunbanjoa, investigators said.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said that the cause of the crash that occurred near Nipton on the edge of the Mojave Desert Preserve remains a mystery.
The finance executive was a leading figure in the Nigerian economy as he worked to expand Access Bank’s presence across the country and African nations including Botswana, South Africa, and Kenya.
He also planned to launch the Access Bank’s first full baking service in Asia in the upcoming months.
The prominent banking CEO also got involved in education setting up his own university and investing $500 million in an effort to improve African youth’s opportunities to find jobs and help solve the mass-migration crisis.
