Barrister Aaron Ocholi, the only surviving son of the deceased
Minister of State for Labour and Employment, James Ocholi, would have
been with his family in the car when Sunday’s accident took place.
The Minister, his wife, Blessing and son, Joshua all died from the accident which took place along the Kaduna-Abuja highway.
But for an ankle injury which prevented him from accompanying his
family to a church service in Kaduna, Aaron would have been another
casualty of the tragedy.
25-year-old Aaron Ocholi had before then, sustained the ankle injury
while training on a football pitch and was on crutches when his family
embarked on their final trip.
Meanwhile, a close friend of the late minister, Tokunbo Obayan,
revealed on Monday, that the late Ocholi got a call from God to go into
politics.
Obayan said his bosom friend had always been involved in ‘Christian activities’, hence the bond between them.
“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.”