Late Tolulope Arotile: 5 things you didn’t know about Nigeria’s first-ever female combat pilot

…Late Tolulope Arotile was the best graduating student of her class

The Nigeria Air Force (NAF) has lost a rare gem, Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile who passed away on Tuesday, 14^th July, 2020. She was a brilliant young mind dedicated to selfless service of her Fatherland. She was a brave officer of the Nigeria Air Force.

Here are 5 things you probably did not know about her.

1. SHE WAS ONLY 25: Tolulope was born in 1995, which means she was just 25 at the time of her death in 2020. She attended Nigeria Airforce Primary School, Kaduna.

2. SHE IS FROM KOGI STATE: She hailed from Iffe in Ijumu Local Governemnt Area of Kogi State. Kogi is one of the states in the North Central Nigeria.

3. SHE TRAINED AS COMBAT PILOT IN SOUTH AFRICA: After completing her professional flight courses at the Nigerian Defence Academy, the talented young woman trained as a combat helicopter pilot at Starlite Training Academy in South Africa. The Academy has 2 bases at Durban and Mossel Bay.

Read also: Heartbreaking! Nigeria’s first female combat helicopter pilot, Ms. Arotile dies in auto crash

4. SHE GRADUATED TOP OF HER CLASS IN 2019: She was the first female combat Helicopter pilot that Nigeria ever had. She was commissioned into She gained admission into the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) on 22nd September 2012 and commissioned into the Nigeria Defense Academy 64th Regular Course of the Nigeria Air Force on 16th September 2017. She became a flight combat pilot in October 2019 after graduating as the best student.

5. SHE WAS REPUTED FOR HER BOUNDLESS COURAGE: She was popular for her heroic piloting of combat helicopters during many fights against banditry and insurgency in northern Nigeria. She piloted most of the flight operations under GAMA AIKI in Niger State.

One of her most notable missions was when she was deployed with other 13 pilots by the Nigeria Air Force to fight insurgents in the North East on Tuesday, August 15, 2019.

Ms. Arotile had a motor accident on Tuesday, July 14, 2020, at the Kaduna base of the Nigeria Air Force. She died as a result of head injuries she sustained from the accident.

She will be forever missed.