The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, James Ocholi SAN, along with his wife and son, died on Sunday in a ghastly accident about 40 kilometres away from Kaduna, on his way to Abuja.
While Ocholi and his son reportedly died on the spot, his wife just passed on at Doka Hospital after sustaining head injury from the fatal accident.
It was gathered that the accident occurred after the minister’s car had a burst tyre before somersaulting several times.
Confirming the development via his official Facebook page, the Kaduna State governor Mallam Nasir El –Rufai described the incident as a ‘sad development.’
“It is with great sadness that the Kaduna State Ministry of Health and Human Services further announces the death of Mrs. Ocholi at Doka Hospital, who was in coma since the accident near Rijana, along the Kaduna-Abuja Road.
“Earlier, the death of Minister Ocholi and his son were announced. May their souls rest in perfect peace, Amen.”
Meanwhile, the driver is said to be in critical condition at Doka clinic, several kilometres from Kaduna.
The Kaduna State Sector Commander of the FRSC, Francis Udoma, explained that the accident occurred 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.”
Born November 26, 1960, in Dekina Local Government area of Kogi State, Ocholi 55 became Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 2007.
Ocholi attended Ochaja Secondary School, and the University of Jos and graduated from the Nigerian Law School in 1986 and was admitted to the Nigerian Bar the same year.
He was also the Chairman, Disciplinary Committee of the Abuja chapter of the Nigeria Bar Association and in 2011, he was governorship aspirant in Kogi State on the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change.
Between 2013 and 2014, he was deputy national legal adviser of the All Progressives Congress, APC and in 2015, he sought the APC gubernatorial ticket at the party’s primary election and lost to the late Abubakar Audu, but was appointed minister in 2015.
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