Flying officer Tolulope Arotile’s death:  Afenifere demands coroner’s inquest

Grief-stricken Afenifere, a pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, has called for a coroner’s inquest into the death of the Nigerian female Airforce pilot, Tolulope  Arotile. 

 Afenifere, which expressed shock over her death, said it was not satisfied with the explanation about the cause of her death. 

Persecondnews recalls that Arotile died on July 14, 2020, following head injuries she sustained from a road crash at NAF Base Kaduna.

 “Nigeria the demented chicken sucked one of its finest eggs yet again with the killing of flying officer Tolulope  Arotile on the road in Kaduna on Tuesday.

“A statement by the Nigerian Air Force told some truth that she died but spewed some untruth in saying that: ‘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.’

“It was only eyewitness accounts that unofficially released that it was a colleague of hers who reversed his car to knock her down on the road,” Afenifere said in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr Yinka Odumakin.

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, who hailed from Iffe in Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State, 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.

Afenifere added: “Unofficial accounts say she just returned from a combat operation before she was knocked down to death.

“We, therefore, do not accept that her death was an accident until the report of a coroner says how she died and how a supposed attempt to stop and greet could come with a deadly impact.

“We say this against what is known of the infiltration of the forces by sympathizers and agents of Boko Haram.”