30 mins of shocking revelations by Tolu Arotile's family

She used to do only three things- Father

Her birth was a miracle- Mother 

I suspect fowl-play- Sister 

It's barely a week since the death of flying officer and first Nigerian first female combat helicopter pilot, Tolulope Arotile died in a car accident.
As Nigerians from all over the world try to wrap their heads around what might have caused her death, journalists met with her family at their Lokoja residence to speak with them about her times and life. Her family knew her as a prayer warrior who worshipped God dedicatedly. They also revealed that she was on a two weeks fasting and prayer when she died as they expressed fears that she might have been killed, writes Medinat Kanabe.

Father of late Arotile, Akintunde Arotile who summoned courage to speak with journalists narrated how he got the news of his daughter's demise. He said: "Around 6:30 somebody called me from Abuja that something happened to my daughter but they have rushed her to intensive care at the specialist hospital in the Airforce Base, Kaduna. I was surprised because she said she wasn't going out but was going to be with her elder sister that day. So I tried to call to find out what happened but her phone was ringing and she didn't pick. I called her colleagues but they told me that it was a small injury and she was being taken care of. 

"After calling and calling we got to know what happened." 

Asked what his next plans are, he said traditionally, the burial will be a military burial, as he debunked rumours flying round that his family got a premonition of her death from a pastor. "We didn't know anything and we weren't praying to avert any death at that time. On that faithful day, I called her in the morning and her mother also spoke with her so there was nothing like that."

Asked what he will miss about her, he said talking about her in the past tense is very painful because it isn't easy to lose a child. "Tolu is a gifted child who has a very high IQ and on her own, she worked really hard to improve on it. She doesn't go out except for her work or church. She is a special child, like a special creation by God because there are things she will do and we will begin to wonder. She is so close to God and she does only three things; sleeping, working or praying.

"I know that even before they took her dead body from under the car that reversed, she was already with God in paradise and that is my only consolation. I am sure they will give her a special place," he said.

Her mother, Mrs Olufunke Naomi Arotile who was in tears as she spoke said she gave birth to five children and Tolulope was her fourth child.

"How I gave birth to her, I don’t know. As soon as I entered the hospital, the nurses told me that my baby is already out and I should be wheeled in but I wasn't feeling it or any pain so I told them that I would walk and as soon as we got to the labour room, she came out easily and quiet."

As if seeing her daughter as she spoke, Mrs Arotile repeated Tbaby, I love you, twice before continuing; she said  before her daughter turned two she had started fasting and praying along with her. 

"Tolu and her elder sister Bimbo would stay with me until I broke my fast. She is a prayer warrior and I thank God for giving her to me but she didn't tell me that she would leave me so soon," she said.

Recalling her first year in the military school, she said "she came back home on her first holiday with marks on her body. She changed so much that when I went to pick her at the bus stop I couldn't recognize her until I got close to her. I was so heart broken that l told her that she wasn't going back to the academy but she looked at me and said if I truly loved her I would let her go and just keep praying for her.

“We kept praying for her and God kept lifting her up more than our expectation. Few weeks ago she told me that she always pray for me, she said that I will live and eat the fruit of my labour, that she will take good care of me promising me that I will not suffer. At the point of death Tolu was fasting. She was on a two weeks fasting and prayer. I even used to appeal to her to slow down on the prayer and fasting."

She said she will miss Arotile who was going to turn 24 on 13th December. "I will miss her calls. She tells me everyday that she prays for me. She even said it on the day that she died. We didn't know that she was going out that day, she just told us that she would be at home because she just finished her promotion examinations and would be home with her sister," she concluded.

Also speaking, her elder sister, Damilola Arotile- Adegboye who dropped off at the Airforce Maami market few minutes before she was killed said she got the information of her sister's death online and felt disappointed because she was at the base. 

"I dropped her off at the base myself and she insisted on going to laminate her certificate. I wanted to wait for her but she said that I shouldn't worry that the distance from the Maami market where I dropped her to the quarters is a short distance.

"We had a long day because we had a lot of things to do before she got a call to go to the base. She was supposed to have resumed but they said because of the weather they couldn't get her deployment letter ready officially and I don’t know why. I left her at the Maami market at 4:41pm which is about 45 minutes to my house. 

"I had not settled in when I got a call from her fiancé that there had been an accident. I was shocked because I know the Airforce base is not a place where people can speed and there are speed breakers everywhere. I immediately drove to the hospital and tried to see her but I wasn't allowed in because of the coronavirus outbreak but when I left the base, I saw online that she was dead. When I called her colleagues it was confirmed."

Adegboye who said she suspects a fowl-play said every child of her parent except the last child attended Airforce Secondary School, Kaduna "so we know where the speed breakers are so for anyone to speed on that road, it is either intentional or some other reason but I believe that the military will investigate it thoroughly because Tolu was an asset to them and I know that they wouldn’t want to allow anyone take away what they have invested so in just like that. I also heard that the boys in the car that killed her have been arrested."

According to her, the boys who killed her sister claim they are her classmate but she knows that it is not true. "I was also told that there was a huge impact on the car. I am not a scientist but my sister doesn't have weight at all. I know that she was fasting at that time and her weight was about 49 so where did the impact come from. She is very skinny, very tiny and she is not tall as well and the impact on the car I saw is very much and I am confused. 

Thanking the medical personnel for allowing her see her sister's body she said "I was opportune to see her body and I saw that she was well taken care of, she was cleaned, smiling and I didn't believe that she was gone."

She called on government and the military to investigate the death thoroughly and I as she said whatever they say is their findings she will believe but silence from them will give room for speculations.