How ankle injury saved Ocholi's surviving son

Daughter of late James Ocholi, Ale and son, Aaron Ocholi at the residence of the late Minister of State at Kado Estate, Abuja, 

THE only surviving son of the late Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Barrister Aaron Ocholi, has promised to retain all the legacies of his father. Aaron Ocholi who is 25 years, according to family sources, was saved from following his father to attend the Church service in Kaduna due to an ankle injury he sustained while training on a football pitch. He was on crutches at the time the father and some members of the family embarked on the fatal trip.

Also yesterday, Deputy Governor of Yobe State, Abubakar Ali, was involved in an auto accident along the Kaduna-Kano expressway but escaped unhurt. Already, the Ocholi family house at 4 Daggash Street, Kado Estate, Abuja, was a beehive of activities, yesterday, as ministers, lawmakers and heads of agencies trooped to the residence to commiserate with the family. This resulted in a traffic gridlock on all the roads leading to the family house at Kado. Speaking to the body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SANs, that visited the house, Aaron said he would not tamper with the legacy of his father and will never sell his books and law firm, assuring the SANs that with them, he would not derail. Speaking to Vanguard, a close friend of the late minister, who was always regarded as his ‘twin’ brother by relatives, Tokunbo Obayan, a.k.a. Toks, described Ocholi’s death  as a rude shock. He said: 

Minister for Works Housing and Power, Babatunde Fashola (2nd right) and Minister of Environment, Hajia Amina Mohammed condoling with Late Minister of State James Ocholi’s son, 


 “It was so sudden that it was certainly unreal in the fact that, yesterday morning, we did not feel that something like this was on the cards. I actually was flying from Kaduna to Lagos, I live in Lagos. I had no idea that it was even between Kaduna and Abuja, only for me to get to Lagos and my phone rang from everywhere in Nigeria, confirming the ugly incident. “So, you can imagine the shock and now for me to also find out that it wasn’t just him but his wife and Joshua, that was like the world had crumbled on us because our families were like twin families. “My wife got the first text and she replied that it was not possible. My wife is the Vice-Chancellor of Landmark University and former Vice-Chancellor of Covenant University. “Her first reaction was that it was not possible, then the person now called her back and said it was all over the social media, it was devastating to imagine. Two weeks ago, I was here in this house, two days, four days we talked and we planned and to suddenly hear that it was like someone just shut the door, everything we have been planning, everybody calls him my twin brother, even when I am in Lagos, people in Abuja phoned me to find out where he is. “When we sat down there and we were discussing, the plans for the future, the fact is that as minister, he had to pull off from anything that will give any look of impropriety which Ocholi was particular about. Even his businesses and things that he was committed to, we were discussing how to handle them to make sure that there was no conflict of interest. “That was our last conversation. We were sitting here when he was about to travel to Kogi for the run-off election. He had five children, two sons and three daughters. Ojoni is the first daughter, Aaron is the second son, he was called to bar the day his father was screened in the Senate. “He went for a church service in Kaduna; he has been involved in Christian activities for a very long time and that was actually how we met. There is a bond between the two of us because of our love for God. “Even his coming into politics was to bring a dimension of cleanliness and most people will not understand if I tell you that Ocholi entered into politics because he had a call. I was the first person that he told. I was sitting beside him when he told me and said Toks, I heard God saying I should go and serve him in politics but I like legal practice. “I said if God said you should go and serve him that is where you should go. This is so devastating.” Also speaking, a cousin to the late minister, Isaac Agbanwu,  a surveyor said: “We were not expecting this. “We were together on Thursday, our discussion was about a trip he was going to make officially and I was to meet him and then discuss with him before he travelled and I went, we discussed and I left his office on Thursday. “I was expecting that by Saturday, he would have travelled; I was not expecting him around, let alone hearing of his death. I also travelled to the village, it was on my way to the village that I was informed about his death; I had no option than to turn back immediately. It is bad news to us.