By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Such a short life, but with a lot of impacts. At the age of 24, Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile had already become Nigeria’s first female combat helicopter pilot.
As a combat helicopter pilot, she was part of the team that routinely reign hellfire on bandits, terrorists and other criminal gangs that steal the peace in Nigeria.
She was only 25 years when she died on July 14. But she fulfilled her childhood wish – to be a pilot officer.
How Tolulope Arotile fell in love with the military career is not so clear, but from her schooling profile, it can easily be assumed that much of that interest came from her educational background.
Tolulope Arotile attended Air Force Primary and Secondary Schools in Kaduna. The school, situated in the Air Force Base in Kaduna, has both civilian and Air Force educators. So, the preponderance of neatly dress Air Force women may have stimulated her desire for that career.
After her secondary school education, Tolupe Arotile joined the Nigerian Air Force 401 Flying training school Kaduna on December 22, 2012, where she graduated and became an officer in the force on September 16, 2017.
After her regimentation orientation as an Air Force officer, she then proceeded to train at the Starlite International Training Academy in South Africa. She earned the training opportunity based on her flying training performance.
When she returned to Nigeria, she was decorated as a Combat Flying Officer on October 15, 2019, after flying for 460 hours of flight within 14 months in a helicopter.
Tolupe Arotile, died in a road accident according to the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), after sustaining head injuries from a road accident which occurred at the NAF Base in Kaduna on July 14
Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, in a statement, announcing the tragic incident, remarked that the Nigerian Air Force was quite distressed by the death of Arotile, an indigene of Iffe in Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State.
“It is with great sorrow that the Nigerian Air Force regretfully announces the unfortunate demise of Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile, who died today (Tuesday), 14 July 2020, as a result of head injuries sustained from a road traffic accident at NAF Base Kaduna,” the statement said.
Tolulope Arotile lived a short but impactful life. May her family find the courage to bear this loss.
