By Frank Momoh
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) over the weekend revealed how Flying Officer, Miss Tolulope Arotile,
was killed by former schoolmates through a high impact vehicle accident while on a reverse from the rear of Kia Sorento SUV at the Kaduna Air Force Base last week Tuesday.
The revelation of Arotile’s demise was contained in a statement signed by Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, NAF’s Director of Public Affairs and Information through an investigative report made available to the media to clarify insinuations surrounding the painful death of the 24-year-old Flying Officer.
According to the report, Mesrs. Nehemiah Adejoh, Igbekele Folorunsho and Festus Gbayegu were former classmates of Arotile, who cited her while driving at the Base.
According to him on sighting Arotile, Adejoh, who was driving decided to reverse back for them to perhaps have a chat with her and it was in this process of reversing back that the car struck the flying officer from the rear, knocking her down with high impact force which led to her hitting her head on the pavement.
He said: “The vehicle then ran over parts of her body as it veered off the road beyond the kerb and onto the pavement causing her further injuries.
“Flying Officer was subsequently rushed to the 401 NAF Hospital where she was later confirmed dead.”
Daramola, noted that the clarification became necessary because Arotile’s unfortunate demise has elicited an overwhelming outpouring of condolences, prayers and support to the NAF as well as her family.
He said: “This has no doubt been so, not just for Tolulope’s outstanding accomplishments at the tender age of 24, but also because of her sterling personal qualities of excellence, hard work, dedication to duty, confidence and courage, which endeared her to her superiors, subordinates and peers in the Service.
“Unfortunately, because of the peculiar circumstances of the incident that led to her death, a rash of falsehoods, innuendos, conspiracy theories and the likes have been propagated in the public space, especially on Social Media.
“The NAF sincerely hopes that the findings of the just-concluded preliminary investigation into this unfortunate and painful incident will address the misinformed issues raised in the Social Media on the tragedy.
“Moreover, while it would have been ideal for the entire investigation to be concluded before details on the incident are released, the NAF, in sensitivity to public concerns occasioned by the spread of false information, appreciates the imperative to provide more clarity at this very difficult moment.
According to him, this is line with the normal procedure in the NAF during such occurrences, an investigation was immediately instituted to formally determine the circumstances of the incident. Accordingly, the preliminary investigation has revealed the following details: