A TikTok video that’s racked up more than five million views over the past day purports that six Nigerian billionaires died in a helicopter crash in California.
TikToker @aja_ba shared details about a crash that happened last Friday in a remote part of the Mojave Desert that killed prominent Nigerian banking executive Herbert Wigwe.
The aircraft was carrying two pilots and four passengers who all died in the crash. Authorities identified the four passengers as Wigwe, his wife Doreen Chizoba, his son Chizi, and former group chairman of Nigeria’s stock exchange Abimbola Ogunbanjo.
Authorities and various news reports have not indicated that all the people on board the helicopter were billionaires, despite the claim in the video that they were.
However, Wigwe and Ogunbanjo, who were both distinguished financiers and philanthropists in Nigeria, had net worths that spanned millions of dollars in U.S. currency, which would amount to billions in Nigerian Naira. Some reports posted after the crash state that Wigwe, who was the founder and CEO of Access Bank in Lagos, had a reported net worth of roughly $65.2 million, which amounts to nearly 99 billion Nigerian naira. Other reports estimate that Ogunbanjo’s net worth reached $100 million before his death, which is more than 151 billion naira.
The flight was en route to Boulder City, Nevada, from Palm Springs, California, when it crashed near the town of Baker, California. The Wigwe family and Ogunbanjo were reportedly planning to attend the Super Bowl. The aircraft was being flown by a pilot and a secondary safety pilot whose identities haven’t been released yet.
Wigwe is survived by three of his other children and Ogunbanjo is survived by his wife and three children.
The National Transportation Board has launched an investigation into the crash, which could reportedly take up to two years to complete. The cause of the crash has yet to be determined at this time, but a preliminary report is supposed to be released in the next couple of weeks. French investigators are also part of the probe since the helicopter was manufactured in France.
One NTSB investigator said the aircraft did not have a cockpit voice recorder or a flight data recorder and was not required to have them.
The TikTok video also mentions the Dark Brandon meme that was posted on President Joe Biden’s official X account on Super Bowl Sunday. It shows an edited photo of Biden with red laser eyes and was posted with the caption, “Just like we drew it up.”
Many suggested Biden was making a playful connection to the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory over the San Francisco 49ers, but given the helicopter crash on Friday and the Israeli airstrikes in Rafah, Gaza, on Sunday, others thought it could be linked to something more sinister.
The post has since been taken down from the account.
