turnpot@gmail.com 0705 263 1058
Our people have so many sayings that are meant to serve as a caution in case you think you or anyone for that matter is indispensable. Yes, the English say no one is indispensable. If you think otherwise, die first and look back to see whether you will not be replaced in a jiffy! In fact, before you are lowered into the grave, other people would have started jostling and lobbying to take over your place!
When people describe a vacuum as too hard to fill, they are just trading pleasant words; there is no vacuum that is too hard to fill or, better still, that will not be filled, hard or soft, perfectly or imperfectly. When they say a loss is irreplaceable or irreparable, they are just humouring the dead. No one is irreplaceable.
In realization of this, my Owo (Ogho) people caution the living to watch it. Be careful, they say, because the person who dies is the one whose destiny perishes. In case you are not yet convinced, they add that no one dies, no matter how close or dear to you, that stops you from going on with your own life!
All the same, some deaths can really, really be painful. Some losses are never really tucked away in the past. Which must be why Don Williams sang “Some broken hearts never mend.” The part of the lyrics that concerns us here goes thus: “Some broken hearts never mend/Some memories never end/Some tears will never dry/ My love for you will never die.”
May we never suffer the loss of a loved one! And may the Comforter comfort those who have! Each time I think of some of the loved ones I have lost, my eyes still get misty, my voice trembles and cracks and tears roll down my cheeks, even though some of these losses occurred decades ago!
So I have an understanding what the parents, family and friends of Flight Officer Tolulope Arotiba, the subject of our discussion here today, must have been through these past six years that the bright star of their life and family, who was brutally cut short while she was yet to start living her life, as they say, had been unable to get justice from a country she served unto death. Worse, is to now hear that her murder case – the murder of an officer on active national service for country and people – has not only been treated with levity but also that her murderer (s) has/have now been allowed to vamoose into thin air!
I read the story with trepidation, and then I remembered the wise saying – even if some will call it cowardly – of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, when asked whether he could die for this country, Nigeria. Putting on his thinking cap, the Owelle of Onitsha quipped something like, “Why die for Nigeria when you can live for her?” Nigeria is not worth dying for, is the meaning of that statement. Those who have died for Nigeria, how has Nigeria remembered or compensated them? How have we hallowed their memory?
And each time the topic of patriotism crops up, I remember a paper presented a long time ago by Professor George Obiozor, one-time Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, charging Nigerians to celebrate their heroes. To my mind, Nigeria as a country has no heroes or, better still (if you prefer that), Nigeria celebrates no hero. The various nationalities making up the amorphous country called Nigeria however have, and celebrate their respective heroes.
Today as we remember the heroics of Flight Officer Tolulope Arotiba and raise a cry that she gets justice, I am sure you know this advocacy will not resonate uniformly across the length and breadth of this country. How, then, can we – or, better still, when, then, shall we – arrive at the highest pedestal of patriotism erected by a one-time president of the United States of America, assassinated President John F. Kennedy, who is famously remembered for these immortal words:’ “Think not what your country can do for you, but think of what you can do for your country”?
When you take heed, like Tolulope Arotiba did, and lose your life – your most prized, most precious, and indispensable treasure – and your country fails to lift a finger, what next?
That appears to be the story of Tolulope Arotiba that you are about to read. It was written by a Nigerian journalist, Temidayo Akinsuyi. Fasten your seat belt as we go!
“Last week, I received a disturbing report alleging that Nehemiah Adejoh — the man accused of driving the vehicle that killed Nigeria’s first female combat helicopter pilot — has fled the country.
“Naturally, as a journalist with a knack for investigating reports, I tried to verify the claim. A search through publicly available reports shows that the last major update on the case was in October 2020, when a Kaduna state high court granted Adejoh bail in the sum of N2 million. Since then, there appears to be no sustained media coverage, no official briefing, and no clear public record of how the matter progressed.
“I made several attempts to reach the spokesman of the Nigerian Air Force and even sent a formal email requesting an update. To date, there has been no response. And so, the uncomfortable question persists: Where is Nehemiah Adejoh, and what is the update on the trial?
“If the allegation that he has left the country is untrue, the authorities should say so clearly. If it is true and he has not been declared wanted, then that silence would be troubling. If, on the other hand, the case is still before the court, Nigerians deserve to know its status.
“The absence of information six years after such a high-profile death creates room for speculation — and speculation thrives where transparency is absent. It bears repeating that the late Tolulope Arotile was not an ordinary officer. She was Nigeria’s first female combat helicopter pilot — a symbol of professional excellence in a country desperate for stories of merit and courage.
“Before her death in July 2020, media reports were awash with accounts of her role in operations against bandits and armed insurgents in the north. It was gathered that her last mission was part of “Operation Gama Aiki” in Minna, Niger state, where, despite rockets fired in her direction, she reportedly neutralised several bandits.
“Then came the shocking news of her death — not in combat, but in what the Nigerian Air Force described as a tragic accident. In its preliminary report released in June 2020, the Air Force stated: ‘Upon recognising their schoolmate, Arotile, after passing her, Mr. Adejoh, who was driving, reversed the vehicle, ostensibly in an attempt to quickly meet up with the deceased, who was walking in the opposite direction. In the process, the vehicle struck Flying Officer Arotile from the rear, knocking her down with significant force and causing her to hit her head on the pavement. The vehicle then ran over parts of her body as it veered off the road beyond the kerb and onto the pavement, causing her further injuries…”
“For many Nigerians, the official explanation left unanswered questions. How does one reverse a vehicle ‘to quickly meet up’ with a friend and end up striking her with such force that she is knocked down and run over? Were all relevant forensic and investigative procedures exhaustively carried out? Was due diligence applied?”
My own take is this: They can as well tell that cock-and-bull story to the marines! Some accounts of the incident said those who knocked her down and ran her over were still the same persons who hauled her into their car and “rushed” her to the hospital. Those accounts said she did not die on the spot but they finished her off in the car ostensibly while rushing her to the hospital! Some reports even said she had been warned to take things easy with the bandits! Can those reports be true?
If they are, then, they killed her because she was killing the bandits. They ran her over because she was spoiling the “market” for them. Those powerful forces that invited the bandits; those powerful Nigerians who openly told us that any attack on the bandits and terrorists is an attack on their region and religion – they are the ones that killed this lady.
We know them! They have been audacious enough to speak in the open and not in the dark. The war against terror cannot be won with the strong backers fuelling the insurgency. Those of them that have been fingered in various reports that have not been controverted; those of them that have spoken openly in defence of negotiations with terrorists and bandits and paying ransoms that further lubricate their invidious and insidious evil machine are well-known past and present top government officials and influential personalities in society.
So, let no one try to pull the wool over our eyes on this matter. They killed her! Pure and simple! Now they want to cover up and let her murderers go free because those murderers were on assignment. And they delivered!
Akinsuyi further said: “The incident occurred during the Muhammadu Buhari administration. President Bola Tinubu is almost concluding his four-year term. It would not be unreasonable to expect that the office of the commander-in-chief should be interested in ensuring that the death of a decorated officer receives a transparent judicial closure. Justice delayed, especially in a matter of national symbolism, gradually erodes public trust.
“This is … about institutional memory and respect for service. When a country fails to bring clarity to the death of one of its finest officers, it sends a quiet but powerful message about how it values sacrifice.
“Civil society groups and the legal community also have a role to play. High-profile cases should not simply fade from public consciousness because news cycles have moved on.
“The broader concern is generational. If a young officer who broke barriers and served in active combat can die under controversial circumstances and her case disappears into bureaucratic silence, what hope does the average Nigerian youth have for accountability in less visible situations?
“In all of this, I pity Nigerian youths. If this can happen to Tolulope Arotile, Nigeria’s first female combat helicopter pilot, and the government treats it with levity, what, then, is the fate of the average Nigerian youth on the streets?
“Nigeria owes Tolulope Arotile more than ceremonial tributes and memorial hashtags. It owes her parents closure. It owes its armed forces reassurance that service and sacrifice matter. And it owes the public transparency.
“So again, the question is simple: What is the status of the case? And where is Nehemiah Adejoh? Silence, at this point, is no longer acceptable.”
My thoughts often wander after this lady, amazed at the huge waste made of her talents! Tell me, how does a country prosper and flourish in such a circumstance? But when sanity returns to this country, her murderers will be found and monuments will be erected in her honour and in honour of other heroes like her. For now, let’s add to the voice of those crying for justice for Flight Officer Tolulope Arotile! We must hold the feet of her murderers to the fire!
Former editor of PUNCH newspapers, Chairman of its Editorial Board and Deputy Editor-in-chief, BOLAWOLE was also the Managing Director/Editor-in-chief of The Westerner news magazine. He writes the ON THE LORD’S DAY column in the Sunday Tribune and TREASURES column in New Telegraph newspaper on Wednesdays. He is also a public affairs analyst on radio and television.