Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari has released a press statement to condole with the family of the Late Minister of State Labor and Productivity James Ocholi, who died this afternoon 6 March, 2016 in an auto-crash alongside his son and wife on the Abuja-Kaduna expressway.

Read the press statement below..

President Buhari has expressed shock and sadness at the death of Barrister James Ocholi (SAN), who together with his wife and son were killed in a car crash in Abuja on March 6, 2016. President Buhari described the Minister of State for Labour’s death as untimely, regretting that Nigeria has lost a key component of the Change agenda.

“Barrister Ocholi was an accomplished and patriotic Nigerian, who was keen to accept the call to service at a time his country needed him,” President Buhari said, adding that in the few months he had been in office, the late minister of state had already begun to distinguish himself through his commitment and dedication to his portfolio.

The late Ocholi has had a long record of political association with President Buhari. President Buhari also consoled with the government and people of Kogi State, whom he described as having lost a distinguished and irreplaceable son.

He prayed that God would comfort them and grant them the grace to bear the loss. “The entire country mourns the loss of this great man, who has sadly left us when we need him most,” he said. President Buhari has also sent the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Engineer David Babachir to formally convey the news to members of the deceased family as well as parishioners in his place of worship.