Jibrin Issah, Senator representing Kogi East Senatorial District has give given a lowdown of Tolulope Arotile’s career journey.
While speaking at the Senate Chamber, Issah said that:
“Flying Officer Arotile who hailed from Ife in Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State, was born on 13th December 1995 to the family of Mr and Mrs Akintunde Arotile in Kaduna.
“She attended the Air Force Primary School Kaduna from 2006-2011.
“In September 2012, she gained admission into the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, where she was a member of 64 Regular Course.
“Flying Officer Arotile was commissioned into the Nigerian Airforce as a Pilot Officer on 16 September 2017. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from the Nigerian Defence Academy.
“Officer Arotile underwent tactical flying training on the Augusta 109 Power Attack Helicopter in Italy and holds a commercial pilot’s licence.
Continuing with his account of Tolulope’s career journey, Senator Issah added that,
“On the 6th of February 2020, she introduced the Air Force’s newly acquired Augusta 109 Power Attack Helicopter to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, during the induction ceremony at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
“She served the nation as a Squadron Pilot at the 405 Helicopter Combat Training Group, Enugu, attached to the Air Component of Operation GAMA AIKI in Minna, Niger State.
Tolulope Arotile “had recently completed her Promotion Examination and was awaiting her next deployment.
“As a participant in the GAMA AIKI in Niger State, she flew her quota of anti-banditry combat missions to ensure a safer and more secure Nigeria.
“Before her untimely death, she made significant and outstanding contributions to the war against terrorism, armed banditry and other forms of criminality in the country.
“In her own words said, ‘I joined the military simply out of passion for it. Being a military personnel has been a long time ambition, the carriage and what it stands for are simply exceptional.’
“Flying Officer Arotile possessed deft skills as a combat helicopter pilot and truly earned the accolades from the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Sadique Abubakar.
In Issah’s account of the CAS’s impression of the young lady officer’s career journey, he said that Abubakar described her as ‘a very intelligent, disciplined, confident and courageous young officer who added value wherever she served.
Speaking further, Sadique Abubakar said her demise has created a gap in the female flying officers’ ranks. According to him, “the late Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile was a shining young star in Nigeria’s Airforce combat flying missions and her sad demise has reduced the ranks of the Air Force’s female pilots to six, thus she deserves to be memorialised in Nigeria’s history.”
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