Details have emerged about how the Minster of State for Labour, Chief James Ocholi (SAN), his wife and son died in a fatal auto crash along Abuja-Kaduna highway yesterday. 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. It was gathered that the wife slipped into coma before she finally gave up the ghost in the hospital. The late minister and members of his family were said to be travelling in his Toyota Lexus Jeep when the accident occurred.

Explaining how the minister and his family members died 57 kilometres away from Kaduna, Kaduna State Sector Commander of Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Francis Udoma, said the rear tyre of the 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 P. A. (Personal Assistant) were injured and are receiving treatment.”

The news of the minister’s death reportedly rattled the Presidency, which deployed some members of the cabinet to receive his remains at National Hospital, Abuja, last night. They include Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Babachir Lawal; Governor Yahaya Bello Kogi State; Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige; Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole; Dr. Jaf Momoh, and Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Tayo Haastrup,

•Excerpted from a Vanguard report. Photo shows late Chief James Ocholi and wife, Blessing Fatima Ocholi.