Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi has expressed shock over the sudden death of the Minister of State for Labour, Mr James Ocholi, in a car crash on Kaduna-Abuja road on Sunday.
Bello in issued a statement in Lokoja on Sunday described the death of Ocholi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), as a monumental loss for the state and the country at large.
The late minister hailed from Ogbabede/Abocho in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State.
“Late Ocholi was a pragmatic, dynamic, humane and brilliant law officer who was known around the world for his dexterous approach to legal and political issues and one of the most unswerving constitutional lawyers Nigeria has ever produced,’’ the governor said of the late minister.
The statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Kingsley Fanwo, recalled how the late minister joined other progressive minded individuals around the country to drive the intellectual pillars of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to the statement, the governor regretted that Ocholi would surely be missed by all.
While condoling members of his immediately family, political associates, friends, colleagues and APC over his death, Bello said that the vacuum left behind by the deceased would be difficult to fill.
He prayed for the peaceful repose of Ocholi’s soul and urged all those he left behind to see his death as an act of God.
Also reacting, the state Treasurer of the APC, Mr Ismail Adesayo, described Ocholi’s death as very unfortunate.
He described the late minister as a fine leader who meant well for the people and development of Kogi State and Nigeria.
Adesayo lamented that Ocholi died when his service was most needed in the state, praying to God to grant him eternal rest and the family the fortitude to bear irreparable loss, reports the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He also prayed to God to have mercy on the state by putting a stop to sudden deaths of political headlights in the state.
Ocholi was a governorship aspirant in PDP but later defected to the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) where he became the party’s governorship candidate in the December 3, 2011, governorship election in the state.
Meanwhile, the FRSC said on Sunday that the remains of the late Minister of State for Labour has been deposited at the morgue of the National Hospital, Abuja.
Mr Bisi Kazeem, the Spokesperson of FRSC, confirmed in Abuja that the corpse of the minister was taken to the hospital along with two other casualties.
Kazeem explained that the deceased lost their lives in a crash that occurred at Kilometre 57, along the Kaduna-Abuja highway on Sunday.
“The minister and two other occupants died eventually, while four people were injured,’’ said the spokesman.
