The family of the late first female combat pilot, Tolulope Arotile, has called on the military authorities to go beyond the immediate cause of death of their daughter and order a full-scale investigation into the matter.
Damilola Adegboye, the immediate elder sister to the deceased, told newsmen on Thursday in Lokoja that the family is not convinced by the supposed “freak” accident.
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She said the calls from a supposed senior officer, which prompted their sister to leave home only to meet somebody was suspicious.
“We in the family are not convinced that Tolu can just die like that in a freak accident.
“I know that the military is well trained in the art of investigation.
“We want them to carry out a thorough investigation that can convince us beyond all doubts that the incident that led to her death was real.
She said on the day of the incident, Tolu and herself were in the room where she was sleeping before the calls came.
“A call came into her phone which she picked.
“But from the way they spoke, I knew that the caller must be a senior officer calling her to come to the Airforce base.
“She left reluctantly and I offered to drop her off,” she said.
She said, one hour later, “I saw online that something serious has happened to her.
“I couldn’t believe that somebody I just dropped off is dead.”
The Nigerian Air Force Tolulope died in a road accident at the Nigerian Airforce base in Kaduna on Tuesday.
Also speaking, the mother of Tolulope went down memory lane about how she gave birth to her, describing her daughter as a special child who engaged in fasting and prayer as a hobby.
Call to immortalise Tolulope
Meanwhile, the Kogi State House of Assembly has called on the state government to immortalise her.
The call was contained in an Oral Motion moved by the member representing Ijumu Constituency, Kilani Olumo at Plenary on Thursday.
Kilani Olumo said the deceased’ pilot has contributed her quota to the ongoing fight against insecurity in the country.
He noted that her death is painful and a great loss to the State, pointing out that, immortalising her is a reward for hard work and dedication to the protection of the nation’s territorial integrity.
Seconding the motion, the member representing Lokoja, Umar Tenimu described the motion as timely in view of the efforts of the late Pilot to the nation’s security.
The Speaker, Prince Matthew Kolawole, in his ruling, called on the State government to urgently immortalise the deceased young pilot.
