Late Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile
Nigerians have called for an urgent investigation of the sudden death of Nigeria’ s first female combat helicopter pilot, Tolulope Arotile, who was reportedly killed by a reversing car inside Nigeria Airforce barracks in Kaduna.
The sudden death and nature of death set tongues wagging with many Nigerians calling for inquiry into her demise.
“How can a reversing car kill a trained military personnel, someone trained to be alert and someone still in her youth and at a time she was not known to have any disability? It’s strange to me and I don’t believe the story coming from Nigeria Airforce,” queried Mr. Andrew Areh, a retired teacher and athletics coach.
“I don’t buy the story that a car reversing in the barracks killed 23 years old Nigeria’s first-ever female combat helicopter pilot Tolulope Arotile. A car reversing at what speed within a barracks? So while the car was reversing, she stood glued to the ground and couldn’t get out of harm’s way? A combat officer that has been trained to have a very high sense of observation and to be security conscious at all time?
“It’s so unfortunate that this brilliant young lady was murdered. I wonder who wanted her out of the way. She wasn’t brought down in the Air, they knew she was untouchable there, the Air was her space, she could fly out of harm’s way, she could manoeuvre herself out of dangerous situations. So it had to be on a terrain where her guards would be a bit down and it was right inside the barracks,” wondered Dele Aina on Facebook.
“I don’t believe their nonsense story. There is more to it than what they are explaining that killed her,” wrote Obi Emmy.
Michael Chigozie Chinemerem Obiukwu wrote: “What a sour tale.. Reversing.. Was the person reversing a caterpillar?”
Since the death of Arotile, social media has been agog. Most of the comments on twitter also called for investigation of her sudden death.
Tolulope, a mathematics graduate, was said to be very brilliant with an exceptionally high IQ. She was also said to be loved by her seniors in the Airforce because of her intelligence and commitment.
Her last assignment was an operation against bandits in Katsina state. Insiders said she was one of the best combat pilots and that she did her job without any gender barrier.
“When you see her on duty, you will just know that this was what she was born to do. It’s unfortunate we lost her,” says an Airforce officer who preferred not to be named.
Meanwhile, Mr Akintunde Arotile, father of Tolulope has narrated how he learnt of her death.
“Just yesterday (July 14) at about 1 p.m., I called her because she just came back from an operation against the bandits in Katsina.
“They gave them one week to rest and so she was sleeping and told me she was in bed resting, she said she will later go out to make some photocopies.
“I told her not to be long and to return home on time because she was staying with my first daughter in Kaduna.
“Around 5.30 p.m, somebody called me and asked if I had called her today and I said yes, then the person told me to call her which I did, but no response.
“So, I called her colleagues, and they were all crying on phone, I asked what happened , they were just crying, so I called one of her bosses who told me that she is in the mortuary.
” I said ha!, Somebody I spoke with 4 hours ago and by 5 p.m. she was in the mortuary,” he explained.
According to him, he had to drive from Abuja to Lokoja to break the sad news to her mother.
” This is to enable me inform her mother physically because I could not brake such news on phone, but when I came she had gone to the prayer mountain.
”She came back around 8.30 pm, I told her this is what I heard but that I had not confirmed,” he said.
Arotile, who retired from the Transmission Company of Nigeria in 2019, described his daughter as a brilliant and wonderful person right from when she was young.
” Right from day one, she had been very very intelligent, sometimes, I wonder what type of IQ she had.
”She also combined intelligence with hard-work. She has not just been brilliant but wonderful,” he said.
According to him, Tolulope did all her schooling in Kaduna from kindergarten to nursery at the Airforce Base and Nigeria Defence Academy, Kaduna.
”One day when she was very small, she pointed to one small aircraft parked on the field and said, Dad, one day I am going to fly that aircraft and I said Amen.
”So from that day, she started working towards that, she got admission to the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, she had a Bachelor degree in Mathematics, she became an Airforce Cadet, from there, she was sent on several courses abroad and became a pilot.
”I just thank God that she was able to achieve her life dream as a baby before her death,’ he added.
