- Speaks On NAF’s Reaction To Daughter’s Death
By Kolawole Ojebisi
Engineer Akintunde Arotile, father of the late Flying Officer Tolulope and the first female combat helicopter pilot of the Nigerian Air Force, has recounted his last moments with his daughter.
Speaking on Wednesday with Journalists, Arotile said being devastated “is an understatement,” recalling how it was the childhood dream of the late Tolulope to have air service as a career.
The New Diplomat had reported how the late NAF officer, according to the statement NAF, died in a freak accident at the Kaduna air force base on Tuesday.
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A former classmate of hers was said to have inadvertently knocked her down during which she sustained head injuries.
Arotile recalled how he had told his daughter to “return home on time” when they spoke hours to her demise, not knowing she was never going to be home again.
“Just yesterday, at about 1 pm, I called her because she just came back from an operation against the bandits in Katsina (and) they gave them one week to rest,” he said.
“So, she was sleeping and told me she was in bed resting. She said she will later go out to make some photocopies and I told her not to be long and to return home on time because she was staying with my first daughter in Kaduna.
“Around 5:30 pm, somebody called me and asked if I had called her today and I said yes. Then the person told me to call her which I did, but no response, so I called her colleagues, and they were all crying on phone.
I asked what happened, they were just crying, so I called one of her bosses who told me that she is in the mortuary and I said, “this is somebody I spoke with four hours ago and by 5pm she was in the mortuary.”
He also recalled how his late daughter dreamt about flying an aircraft, saying “she had not just been brilliant but wonderful.”
“One day when she was very small, she pointed to one small aircraft packed on the field and said, ‘dad, one day, I am going to fly that aircraft’ and I said Amen,” he recalled, adding that she started working towards actualising the dream from that day.
“Right from day one she had been very very intelligent. Sometimes, I wonder what type of IQ she had, she also combined intelligence with hard-work. I just thank God that she was able to achieve her dreams as a baby before her death,” Arotile said.
Meanwhile, Mr Arotile had nothing but praise for the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) for providing moral support for his family as it mourns his beloved daughter.
The grieving father, who retired from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) as a Power Engineer in 2019, said the NAF’s support has been overwhelming.
He said, “I must say that I am really impressed by the outpouring of sympathy and support.
“There have been several visits from her bosses from all over the country, including here in Lokoja, Abuja, Kaduna, and Enugu.
“The support has been overwhelming. They have even promised to let us choose where to bury her, but her commandant suggested that she should be buried at the National Cemetery, Abuja because of the number of people that will attend the funeral and due to the feat she achieved as the first female combat pilot in Nigeria.”
In an interview published by The Punch on Thursday, Engr Arotile said that his family was more than devastated by the loss of his “brilliant and wonderful” daughter.
He disclosed that his daughter was born in Kaduna as the fourth child of his family and from a tender age always wanted to be a pilot.
The proud father said his daughter graduated from the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna with a degree in Mathematics.
Afterward, he said, “She became an Air force cadet. She was sent on several courses abroad and became a pilot. I just thank God that she was able to achieve her dreams as a baby before her death.”
