The Nigerian Airforce has arrested two of its officers in connection with the death of Nigeria’s first-ever NAF female combat pilot, Tolulope Arotile.
Recall that NAF released a statement about the death of Tolulope, saying she was involved in a road traffic accident which affected her head and she died thereafter. NAF given clearer picture of Arotile’s death said “she was inadvertently hit by the reversing vehicle of an excited former Air Force secondary school classmate while trying to greet her.”
The clarification was made by Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola who also revealed that the two suspects are currently detained and are undergoing investigations to ascertain the real cause of death of the flying officer.
He said:
“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 hemorrhaging which ultimately resulted in her 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 pre-empt 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.”
