Nine months after Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile, was winged by the Nigerian Air Force as the first female Combat helicopter pilot in the history of the Nigerian Air Force, no one knew her earthly existence and service in the Military would be short.
The painful demise of Officer Tolulope was made known in a statement issued by the Air Force Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola.
The statement reads…
“It is with great sorrow that the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) regretfully announces the unfortunate demise of Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile, who died today, 14 July 2020, as a result of head injuries sustained from a road traffic accident at NAF Base Kaduna. Until her death, Flying Officer Arotile, who was commissioned into the NAF in September 2017 as a member of Nigerian Defence Academy Regular Course 64, was the first ever female combat helicopter pilot in the Service”.
The late Arotile, is a native of Iffe in Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State, she was said to have contributed significantly to the efforts to rid the North Central States of armed bandits and other criminal elements by flying several combat missions under Operation GAMA AIKI in Minna, Niger State.
On the 15th of October 2019, Flying officer Arotile was winged alongside Kafayat Sanni the first female fighter pilot officer.
The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, on behalf of officers, airmen, airwomen and civilian staff of the NAF, commiserates with the family of late Flying Officer Arotile over the irreparable loss.
In similar development, 7 Police officers attached to the Special Forces Unit of the Nigeria Police Force died in a ghastly motor accident on 12th July, 2020 on their way to Katsina State.
The Force Public Relations Officer DCP Frank Mba, reveled in a statement that the incident, involved an 18-seater Toyota Hummer Bus conveying eighteen personnel of the Unit, occurred at Jaji town along Kaduna-Zaria Road.
The deceased were part of an additional deployment made recently by the Force to boost the ongoing fight against bandits in Birnin-Gwari, Katsina State.
The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu while condoling with the families of the late Policemen, said the incident is a huge loss to the Force and describing the deceased as “Heroes of Peace”.
A team of Police Medical Personnel has been dispatched to Kaduna State where eleven officers that survived the accident are receiving medical attention. Three of the deceased officers have been buried according to Islamic rites while the remains of the other four officers have been deposited in a Morgue.
Meanwhile, the IGP is said to have directed the Police Accounts and Budget Department of the Force to ensure the immediate payment of the burial expenses, benefits and other entitlements to the families of the deceased officers.
May souls of the security personnel rest in peace.
