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As corporate affairs officer, I had accompanied Aig and Herbert who were Executive Directors at GTB (before it became GTBank) then, to pay a courtesy visit to Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his Alausa Office.
I have read eulogies by former GTBank colleagues, and AccessBank staff (past and present) and all point out at the same thing. Herbert Wigwe was a very focused, very determined and an extremely competent professional.
Herbert was my “run to” ED back in the day for most of my approvals. No matter the number of times I walk into his office with my files, he would pause to attend to me.
It got to a point that all he would just ask without looking up from his desk is “what is in the file” and I will rush through the summary in 1 or 2 minutes (GTBank taught me how to make perfect elevator pitches) and pronto he stretches his hand to collect the file while still staring at whatever credit approval he was working on prior, goes to the signature page of my document and signs.
One day I summoned the courage to ask why he stopped reading my approvals before signing, he stopped what he was doing, looked up and said “your numbers are always correct and I trust you to do the right thing”. That statement played a big part in the formative years of my career.
The last time I saw Herbert was in July of 2023, the then CBN Governor (Godwin Emefiele) had invited the leadership of the big 4 banks , Airtel and MTN to his office with the aim of mediating on a lingering dispute between the banks and Telcos. I was part of the leadership team that accompanied Airtel CEO Carl and MTN’s Karl to CBN. Herbert (later joined by my dear brother, Roosevelt Ogbonna), Segun Agbaje of GTBank and Ebenezer of Zenith soon showed up and the meeting held with parties on both sides advised to find common grounds to close out on all issues.
On our way out I approached both Herbert and Segun to exchange pleasantries. Segun was the first to scream about my weight gain trust Herbert to make a joke out of it, “Femi is a big boy now” and he Immediately turned to my CEO with his hand on my shoulder, jokingly said, you know this one is our own. we all laughed and left in our cars. Didn’t know that “keep in touch” would be the last.
Later today, I would be leading the Airtel delegation on a condolence visit to AccessBank and different flashbacks are playing in my head. I am not new to grief as I have lost people who played significant roles in my personal life and career but this very one really hits.
My deepest condolences to the Wigwe, AccessBank and GTBankAlumni families and everyone else impacted by this very painful loss.
May God grant the souls of Herbert, Chizoba and Chizi eternal rest
