Wigwe: A Nasty Way Of Interpreting Death

I have received so many condolence messages from friends and persons I do not even know on the death of my boss, brother and friend, Dr. Herbert Wigwe. Indeed, the outpouring of grief across the country has been overwhelmingly comforting. I thank you all.

But this evening, I received a strange call from a friend, who told me that Herbert’s death is a punishment from God because when Access Bank acquired Intercontinental Bank, some people who worked for the acquired bank had developed heart attack and died.  I lost my cool and told him that he’s talking nonsense.

Even before Access bought Intercontinental in 2011, there were many mergers and acquisitions in the banking industry arising from the banking consolidation of 2004 and 2005. The bank I worked for then merged with four others and formed a new, bigger bank. Many lost their jobs, but they ended up reentering the industry as the sector expanded, while some others changed careers.  Those who attended business school would recall that all M&As will always result in job losses because the synergy created usually lead to some redundancies. This is typically presented in the equation: 1+1 = 3.

Herbert is not the first person to die in an air accident. Remember ADC, Dana and Bellview air crashes? Did the passengers all die because of what they did? In 1995, many school kids coming home for Christmas holidays from Abuja died in Sosoliso air crash in PH. Did those children die because they bought a bank? Did they die because of their sins? What of those air crashes involving Ethiopian airlines, Malaysian airlines and other international airlines?

Is air crash the only way that people die tragically? What of those who die from drowning, fire disaster, electrocution, armed robbery attacks or even kidnapping? Is it also because of whatever they did on earth? What of women who die from childbirth? What of children who die from the six childhood killer diseases?

The person who called me this evening presented a very uninformed and nasty understanding of death, ethereal and esoteric matters. He was very insensitive to the huge loss that has befallen me. I am happy that I gave him a piece of my mind.

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