The Nigerian Air Force have confirmed that the investigation into the cause of the shocking demise of one it’s best Tolulope Arotile is underway, NAF further stated that two persons were being interrogated.
Director of Public Relations and Information to NAF, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, stated these in an interview with a Punch correspondent, saying at the end of the investigation, “whatever information needs to go out will go out.”
The NAF spokesperson on Friday announced that Arotile would be buried Thursday, July 23, at the National Military Cemetery, Abuja, with full military honours.
The deceased was reported to have sustained head injuries from the accident when she was “inadvertently hit by the reversing vehicle of an excited former Air Force secondary school classmate while trying to greet her.”
Notable Nigerians, including the President of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari , had since Wednesday expressed shock over her death.
Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, however, on Thursday raised suspicion over the death of the female officer, as the refused to welcome the road accident explanation and calling for thorough investigation into her death.
Speaking in an interview with SaturdayPUNCH on Friday, NAF spokesman, Daramola, said, “First of all, in my first statement, I said she died from a road traffic accident. I further clarified the nature of the road traffic accident where one of her excited classmates who saw her reversed his car which led to him hitting her and knocking her down. This led to head injuries and a lot of hemorrhage g which ultimately resulted in her death.
“The two boys are in custody and the NAF will do a thorough investigation into the matter. It is a routine process – our own processes that are ongoing because it happened inside a NAF base. At the appropriate time, whatever information needs to go out will go out. But we cannot pre-empt that investigation process.
“Whatever needs to be known will be known; it is standard practice. So, we are investigating the circumstances leading to her death by a road traffic accident. It is an investigation because it may go beyond NAF.”