Deaths of some legends can be turned to gains, so declared an investor and entrepreneurial icon, the Mayor of Housing.
This is as the financial icon, Herbert Wigwe, is not dead yet, except his vision and projects are allowed to die, according to the Mayor of Housing, My-ACE China.
China was reacting to the spreading shock of the death of the CEO of Access Corporation along with his wife and son in a chopper crash in the US on Saturday, February 10, 2024.
The deaths and those of two other occupants of the helicopter have confirmed by US aviation authorities and Access Corporation in Nigeria. Wigwe was a honed accountant who began his career in the highly tested and trusted Coopers & Lybrand Associates, a global company of Chartered Accountants, from where he joined the Guaranty Trust Bank and worked for over a decade before joining Access Bank. He forged a close association and partnership with Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede and some other top brains.
The Mayor of Housing however says the best approach to this tragedy is to turn it into positives by looking up Wigwe’s visions and legacies and cementing them further to make him live on.
In a statement in Port Harcourt, the Mayor of housing and CEO of the Housing & Construction Mayor Limited said he has looked up Wigwe’s partners and those associated with his dreams so as to galvanise them into making the dreams of the legend to live on.
He said: “Immediately after news of the crash in the US and the passing of the high profile Nigerian CEO and Rivers-born Dr Herberth Wigwe, I started looking up his partners, those associated with his dreams, and the construction partners at the Wigwe University. I know that men of vision, or legends, don’t die until their legacies die. So, Dr Herberth Wigwe is not dead, yet.
“So, I immediately started looking up those whose onus and opportunity it is to sustain his dreams and make sure that Dr Herberth Wigwe does not die.”
He stated that Dr Herberth Wigwe will die the day Wigwe University is dead; the day Access Bank stops being a leading financial institution in the world; the day all the wonderful partnerships he has brokered between Access Holdings and other companies globally and in Africa die; or the day all the acquisitions by Access Holding he has helped to acquire die.”
He insisted that Access Holding is not a one-man dream, the Wigwe University concept is not a one-man dream, Herberth Wigwe is not a lone-man project, that he has got partners, and that he has got associates. “The onus is on them to ensure that the dreams do not die.”
Enumerating three ways Wigwe could possibly die, Mr China stated: “If they let his vision die, then they have actually let him die; if they let his visions live and succeed, they have let him live; and if they propagate and exponentially build these dreams beyond the wildest imaginations of Herberth Wigwe himself, they would have not only made him live but they would have immortalized him and his legacies.”
He recalled his quotes about legends and death thus: “I have a quote that says legends don’t die, they only live as long as their legacies last. Herberth Wigwe is not dead but he has left us a legacy of excellency, a legacy of performance, a legacy of visionary leadership, a legacy of exponential partnership, and a legacy of resilience in the face of hardship. All we can do is to put hands together to make sure Herberth Wigwe doesn’t die the real death.”
So, he declared, all associates, all customers of Access Bank, all workers, everybody that is associated in keeping his legacies alive, they must rally round and make sure this legend does not die.
“All I say is Herberth Wigwe is not dead, but if we want him to die, we let his dreams die. If we make his dreams live, he lives, but if we allow his dreams die, he then dies. If we make his dreams live beyond his wildest imaginations, then we would have made him live and live. So, let’s make Herberth Wigwe live.”
The Mayor of Housing said he did not meet Wigwe face to face but that he has met some of his staff that revealed much about him, his visionary leadership, and his striving for excellence. “I don’t know a lot but I know of one thing that is required to be a leader; the only way to lead is by example. One thing I have heard about Herberth Wigwe that I hold dearly is that he asks you to do one 10 things, he does 12. That shows he is a leader that acts in the front.
“We have other leaders that dish out command from the back but would not do one tenth of what they ask you to do. But Dr Herberth Wigwe is a performance-leader and such species of homo sapiens are rare. In fact, if we live the life of the likes of Dr Herberth Wigwe, we would not be busy weeping, but if we strive to sustain his dreams and legacies, he would then live on.”
