Studio 24 has this memorial up for Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile. It’s such a beautiful tribute.
Arotile’s Nigeria’s first-ever female combat helicopter pilot, Tolulope untimely demise comes barely a year after she made history as the first combat helicopter pilot in the Air Force’s 55-year-old history following the completion of her training in South Africa.
Arotile was commissioned into the Nigerian Air Force in September 2017 as a member of the Nigerian Defence Academy Regular Course 64.
Daramola described Arotile’s short stint with the service as “impactful”, contributing significantly to the efforts to rid the North Central States of armed bandits and other criminal elements by flying several combat missions under Operation GAMA AIKI in Minna, Niger State.
Nigeria’s Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, said Arotile’s demise was “irreparable.”
“We pray that the Almighty God grants her soul eternal rest.”