Tribute To One Of Nigeria's Finest Military Officers, Late Tolulope Arotile

The demise of Tolulope Arotile will linger in the minds of not just the Nigeria Airforce family but Nigerians in general going by the unprecedented achievements of the late flying over in her 24 years sourjon on earth. Born on 13 December 1995 to the family of Mr and Mrs Akintunde Arotile in Kaduna, Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile, hails from Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State. She attended Air Force Primary School, Kaduna from 2000 - 2005 and Air Force Secondary School, Kaduna from 2006 - 2011 before she later gained admission into the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna as a member of 64 Regular Course on 22 September 2012. Flying Officer Arotile was commissioned into the Nigerian Air Force as a Pilot Officer on 16 September 2017 and holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the Nigerian Defence Academy. Arotile was winged as the first ever female combat helicopter pilot in the Nigerian Air Force on 15 October 2019, after completing her flying training in South Africa. She holds a commercial pilot license and also underwent tactical flying training on the Agusta 109 Power Attack Helicopter in Italy. Surprisingly, she introduced the newly acquired Agusta 109 Power Attack Helicopter to President Muhammadu Buhari, during the induction ceremony at Eagle Square in Abuja on 6 February 2020. Flying Officer Arotile died on 14 July 2020 at the age of 24, when she was inadvertently hit by the reversing vehicle of an excited former Air Force Secondary School classmate while trying to greet her. Before her untimely death, Tolulope Arotile made outstanding contributions to the war against terrorism, armed banditry and other forms of criminality in the Country, flying several combat missions. These achievements no doubt may have spearheaded insinuations of foul play from some quarters over the circumstances surrounding her death, a development responsible for the preliminary result just released by the Nigerian Airforce. The remains of flying officer Tolulope Arotile will be buried on Thursday July 23rd 2020 at the National Military Cemetery with full military honours. Live on....Tolulope Arotile....

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