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…Govs, senators, other dignitaries attend funeral ceremony
From Tony John, Port Harcourt
It was a day of grief yesterday at Isiokpo, the headquarters of Ikwerre Local Government Area, Rivers State, as eminent Nigerians and the people of the state gathered to bid final goodbye to the late Access Bank CEO, Herbert Wigwe, his wife, Chizoba, and son, Chizi, who died in a helicopter crash in the United States of America.
Speaking at the funeral ceremony, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, told the Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara, that if there was nothing in his struggle, he should not delve into it.
Akpabio was responding to Fubara who had earlier at the burial service of the late financial strategist asked what politicians struggle for?
The Senate President who had expressed condolences to the bereaved family and Access Bank for the loss of their love ones agreed that there was no need to struggle in life.
His words: “Then, just as Governor Fubara asked, what is the struggle all about? I would answer it. The struggle, we are not talking politics.
“In 2006, I wanted to be a deputy governor. The then deputy governor told me that this office has no money. There is nothing in it. I don’t know why you still insist of taking over. Then, a woman went with me. She said, then, Your Excellency, don’t wait for impeachment, resign, since there is nothing in it.
“He (deputy governor) stood up and started punching the woman. I told him, Your Excellency, don’t punch her. She is saying the truth. There is nothing in it. That’s why I want it because you’re too big for it.
“So, Your Excellency, Governor Fubara, if there is nothing in the struggle, don’t struggle.”
The Rivers State governor also in his speech, challenged the political class to live an impactful life that members of the public would remember them for.
“I have a big question to ask. What is life all about? Yesterday night, we sang a hymn, ‘Fading away like a star in the morning.’ And, I come to a conclusion that life is not the one million years that you lived, but even if we spend an hour, let the hour be impactful.
“Here lies our brother, his wife and his son. Everyone has come to celebrate them. It means, even the short period that he lived, he lived an impactful life. He has made a great contribution to humanity.
“This takes me to the next question; and this one has to do with our political class. What is this struggle all about? You want to kill, you want to dare it. What is all about?
“This is a man, he (Herbert ) is not a politician. He made his money through us, our investments. He has the world in his palm. He controlled even the political class. But, today, with all the power financially, he couldn’t control life.
“Is it not enough for us to ask ourselves, why are we struggling? Why are we not making impact in the lives of our people? The political class, let us go home with that question and be answering it in our minds and reflecting it with what we do,” Fubara advised.
He assured that the state government would immortalize the Wigwe University and sustain the dream of the financial icon.
He said: “We, the government, will do everything with the Wigwe Foundation to immortalize one thing; it is not the bank, but one thing that has his name, the Wigwe University.
“We will do everything within our power to make sure that, that dream would continue to live just as he has planted it. We must keep the name.”
Among other dignitaries that attended the burial were governors of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Ogun and Lagos states; the 2023 election presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi, former governors, captains of industry and an array of traditional rulers.
