Malik Yahya/
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has revealed the events that resulted in the death of Nigeria’s first female combat pilot, Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile, at the NAF Base in Kaduna State yesterday.
A statement in Abuja today by NAF Director of Public Relations and Information Air Comm. Ibikunle Daramola, revealed that the 24-year-old was allegedly hit by a car driven by a former classmate who wanted to greet her.
The unnamed ex-classmate was reportedly reversing the car when it hit Arotile who fell and hit her head on the tarmac.
She subsequently died while receiving treatment at the hospital where she was taken to.
“Flying Officer Arotile died on July 14, 2020 at the age of 24, when she was inadvertently hit by the reversing vehicle of an excited former Air Force Secondary School classmate while trying to greet her.
“Before her untimely death, Flying Officer Arotile made significant and outstanding contributions to the war against terrorism, armed banditry and other forms of criminality in the country, flying several combat missions,” the statement reads.
Daramola explained that Arotile joined the Nigerian Air Force out of passion for the job.
Born on December 13, 1995 to the family of Mr and Mrs Akintunde Arotile in Kaduna, Arotile hailed from Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State.
She attended Air Force Primary School, Kaduna from 2000 – 2005 and Air Force Secondary School, Kaduna from 2006 – 2011 before she later gained admission into the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna as a member of 64 Regular Course on September 22, 2012.
Arotile was commissioned into the Nigerian Air Force as a Pilot Officer on September 16, 2017 and held a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the Nigerian Defence Academy.
She was winged as the first ever female combat helicopter pilot in the Nigerian Air Force on October 15, 2019, after completing her training in South Africa.
She possessed a commercial pilot license and also underwent tactical flying training on the Agusta 109 Power Attack Helicopter in Italy.
“Incidentally, she introduced the newly acquired Agusta 109 Power Attack Helicopter to the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, during the induction ceremony at Eagle Square in Abuja on February 6, 2020,” the statement adds.
The circumstances leading to the painful death of this very young, intelligent and promising officer leaves a lot of questions unanswered! Didn’t she see this her so-called former class mate drive past? Didn’t she see the vehicle reverse to avoid being hit? What speed would a vehicle be reversing with that it hit a consciously standing person down? Wasn’t there any hospital inside NAF base Kaduna that can administer quality first aid before she could be taken elsewhere for proper attention ? In my opinion, she murdered!