Headlines
Nigerian Air Force begins probe, arrests 2 persons over Arotile’s death
…Late officer to be buried July 23, with full military honours
BY NICHOLAS ABE
The Nigerian Air Force says it is investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile, in a road accident in Kaduna, adding that two persons have been arrested.
The NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, who spoke with THE PUNCH said that at the end of the investigation, “whatever information needs to go out will go out.”
The NAF spokesman also in a release issued on Friday, said that the remains of Arotile, Nigeria’s first combat helicopter pilot, would be buried Thursday, July 23, at the National Military Cemetery, Abuja, with full military honours.
The NAF noted that it would continue to support female pilots’ training as 11 were currently undergoing training within and outside Nigeria.
“First of all, in my first statement, I said she died from a road traffic accident. I further clarified the nature of the road traffic accident where one of her excited classmates who saw her reversed his car which led to him hitting her and knocking her down. This led to head injuries and a lot of haemorrhaging which ultimately resulted in her death.
READ: Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile: Sister calls for probe over death
“The two boys are in custody and the NAF will do a thorough investigation into the matter. It is a routine process – our own processes that are ongoing because it happened inside a NAF base. At the appropriate time, whatever information needs to go out will go out. But we cannot preempt that investigation process.
“Whatever needs to be known will be known; it is standard practice. So, we are investigating the circumstances leading to her death by a road traffic accident. It is an investigation because it may go beyond NAF,” Daramola recounted in an interview with THE PUNCH correspondent.
There have been demands by the family of the deceased 24-year-old female air force officer, individuals and some interest groups for the NAF to thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding her death, inside a Nigerian Air Force facility.