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It’s not many times in Life that I’ve felt the kind of pain and numbness that’s currently going on in my heart & soul. How can such a visionary die with his wife and son, on the same day in such a tragic situation?
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#HOW Uncle Herbie? We still hugged each other and chatted about so many issues at “Chairman’s Birthday Party” last December and you were accusing me of not keeping in touch as much as I should. I promised to visit you so we could catch up. Alas, we never did.
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Uncle Herbie was a Colossus – Bright, Brilliant & Bullish in operational execution & result-driven systems thinking. So committed to education, arts, social innovation & human capital development – a kind & present big brother, excellent listener, thoughtful teacher and Mentor. A Serial Builder of People and Institutions. Thank you for everything you were to me Uncle Herbie especially with handholding, wise counsel and guidance on that huge Assignnment I was saddled with at VSF during the COVID years.
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In these photos, here he was in company of the current MD/CEO of Access Bank, Mr Roosevelt Ogbonna, Mrs Ope Wemi Jones and other Senior Executives, receiving our Delegation from Harvard University John F Kennedy School of Government and MIT at the Bank’s Headquarters when I collaborated with the Lagos State Government to bring some super outstanding HKS/MIT Students from several Countries on our Public Policy Field Visit to Nigeria, few years ago.
A Believer in Nigeria, Man of People, Double Dose of Energy and Excellence, Uncle Herbert my G, always a Stand-Up Guy. This Masterful Entrepreneur who co-created one of the largest Financial institutions in Africa, just set up Wigwe University as a representation of the creative dynamism and intellectual genius of Africa on the global stage.
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There’s a hollow in my heart and I feel indescribably sorrowful. For Aunty Doreen Chizoba, his Wife and Chizzy their first son, I can’t even comprehend all these. It all feels so awful.
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Journey well good people, I’m still sobbing, shellshocked to even be saying this and to now speak of you all as people who once lived.
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In Loving Memory of Uncle Herbie the one, the only.
TAO.