The minister of state for Labour and Productivity, Mr. James Ocholi, his wife and eldest son who died today after the Prado Jeep they were traveling in somersaulted several times after one of its rear tyre burst, died 57 kilometres from Kaduna, the Federal Road Safety Commission has said.
While the minister and his son died on the spot, his wife died later at Doka Government Hospital in Kaduna hours later.
The Kaduna State Sector Commander of the FRSC, Mr. Francis Udoma, said the accident when the rear tyre of the Sports Utility Vehicle conveying them burst and the vehicle summersaulted several times.
Udoma said, “The rear tyre bursted and the vehicle, summersaulted. The minister and his son died on the spot, the wife died in the government hospital in Doka, Kaduna.
“The driver, the chief detail, the orderly and the Personal Assistant were injured.”
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday expressed shock and sadness at the death of the Minister of State for Labour, Mr. James Ocholi (SAN), who together with his wife and son were killed in a car crash on Sunday.
In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, Buhari described the minister’s 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,” Buhari said.
Also, the Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello has expressed shock over the death of the minister.
The Governor described the late Ocholi as a pragmatic, dynamic, humane and brilliant law officer, who was known for his dexterous approach to legal and political issues an as one of the top lawyers Nigeria has ever produced.
Bello recollected with the late Senior Advocate of Nigeria joined other progressive-minded individuals around the country to drive the intellectual pillars of the All Progressives Congress, describing the late Ocholi as a complete gentleman who was irrevocably committed to the advancement of Nigeria.
He described the late Minister as a detribalised Nigerian who believed in the oneness of the nation, summing up his death as an irreparable loss to Kogi State, Nigeria, the All Progressives Congress and the legal profession. Bello prayed for the repose of the soul of the departed.