Flying Officer Tolulope Oluwatoyin Sarah Arotile (13 December 199514 July 2020) was the first-ever female combat helicopter pilot in the Nigerian Air Force. She contributed significantly to combat operations against insecurity in the northern states of Nigeria. Arotile died from a head

injury An injury is any physiological damage to living tissue caused by immediate physical stress. An injury can occur intentionally or unintentionally and may be caused by blunt trauma, penetrating trauma, burning, toxic exposure, asphyxiation, o ...

sustained in an accident at the Nigerian Air Force base in

Kaduna state Kaduna State ( ha, Jihar Kaduna جىِهَر كَدُنا; ff, Leydi Kaduna, script=Latn, ; kcg, Sitet Kaduna) is a state in northern Nigeria. The state capital is its namesake, the city of Kaduna which happened to be the 8th largest city in ...

on 14 July 2020.

Life

Born on 13 December 1995 to Akintunde Arotile (from Iffe in Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State) and his wife in

Kaduna State Kaduna State ( ha, Jihar Kaduna جىِهَر كَدُنا; ff, Leydi Kaduna, script=Latn, ; kcg, Sitet Kaduna) is a state in northern Nigeria. The state capital is its namesake, the city of Kaduna which happened to be the 8th largest city in ...

, Arotile attended the Air Force Primary School, Kaduna, from 2000 to 2005 and the Air Force Secondary School, Kaduna, from 2005 to 2011, before she gained admission into the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, as a member of 64 Regular Course on 22 September 2012. Arotile was commissioned into the Nigerian Air Force as a

pilot officer Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countri ...

on 16 September 2017 and held a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in mathematics from the Nigerian Defence Academy. She was winged as the first ever female combat helicopter pilot in the Nigerian Air Force on 15 October 2019 (together with the first female fighter pilot, Kafayat Sank) after completing her flying training in South Africa. Two years into her

career The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. Definitions The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defin ...

, Arotile had acquired 460 hours of helicopter flight, which was an outstanding performance for a combat pilot. She saw action against the

Boko Haram Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit=Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad), is an Islamic terrorist organization ...

terrorists, and President Muhammadu Buhari paid tribute to her skill and bravery. In the fight against

ISIS Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...

, she was called effective, deadly and "fearless". Arotile held a commercial pilot licence and also underwent tactical flying training on the Agusta 109 Power attack helicopter in Italy.

Death

According to Nigerian Air Force spokesman Ibikunle Daramola, Arotile died on 14 July 2020 as a result of head injuries sustained in a road traffic accident at the Nigerian Air Force Base in Kaduna State, when she was inadvertently hit by the vehicle of a former Air Force Secondary School classmate who was trying to greet her.; The way the accident occurred prompted a call for investigation from Nigerians. Others called it "suspicious". She was buried on 23 July 2020 at the Military

Cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

, Airport Road,

Abuja Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...

. The Nigerian Air Force revealed that no

autopsy An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any di ...

was carried out on her before she was buried, because the circumstances surrounding her death were clear, and there were witnesses who were present during the accident. The force said that her family wanted to move on quickly and did not demand an

, noting that the family were comfortable with the force's investigation. The

investigation Investigation or Investigations may refer to: Law enforcement * Investigation, the work of a detective * Investigation, the work of a private investigator * Criminal investigation, the study of facts, used to identify, locate and prove the guilt ...

was later transferred to the

Nigeria Police Force The Nigeria Police Force is the principal law enforcement and the lead security agency in Nigeria. Designated by the 1999 constitution as the national police of Nigeria with exclusive jurisdiction throughout the country, as at 2016 it has a s ...

on 24 July 2020.;

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arotile, Tolulope 1995 births Nigerian Air Force officers Nigerian Defence Academy alumni 2020 deaths People from Kaduna Nigerian female military personnel Road incident deaths in Nigeria Nigerian women aviators Yoruba female military personnel Yoruba military personnel