Minister of State for Labour and Productivity, James Ocholi (SAN) is dead.
The former national deputy legal adviser of the All Progressives Congress (APC) died in a road accident along the Kaduna-Abuja highway on Sunday.
Lawyer and media personality, Aliyu Abdullah, broke the news on Twitter on Sunday afternoon.
Just pased a scene of accident frm kd 2 abj, James ocholi may be involved, let’s pray 4 him pls, looks like there was loss of lives, @Ayourb
— Barr. Aliyu Abdullah (@AliyuAbdullahA) March 6, 2016
While Ocholi, 55, and his son, Aaron Enojo, 20, died instantly, his wife, Blessing Fatima, a Registrar at Salem University, Sokoto, was said to have died later from injuries sustained in the crash.
Her death was confirmed by Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, in a facebook post.
“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,” the governor wrote.
Explaining how the minister and his family members died , Kaduna State Sector Commander of Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, Francis Udoma, said the rear tyre of the Lexus SUV they were travelling in burst, while the vehicle skidded off the road and somersaulted several times into the bush.
Udoma, who made this known in a telephone chat with newsmen in Kaduna, yesterday, said: “The rear tyre burst and the vehicle somersaulted into the bush. The minister and his son died on the spot, the wife died in the government hospital at Doka, Kaduna.
“His driver, the chief detail, the orderly and the PA (Personal Assistant) were injured and are receiving treatment.”
A native of Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State, Ocholi attended Ochaja Secondary School in Kogi State before proceeding to the University of Jos.
He finished from the Nigerian Law School in 1986 and was admitted to the Nigerian Bar the same year.
Ocholi became Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 2007, and Chairman, Disciplinary Committee of the Abuja chapter of the Nigeria Bar Association.
He was governorship aspirant in Kogi State on the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change in 2011.
Last year, he sought the APC gubernatorial ticket at the party’s primary election, losing to the late Abubakar Audu.
He was appointed minister in 2015, with associates initially tipping him for the justice ministry.
