The tragic demise of promising Nigerian Air Force (NAF) officer, Tolulope Arotile hit the news last week, generating a lot of interest and stirring emotions mixed with outrage, sympathy and misinformation.

Tolulope was the first Nigerian helicopter fighter pilot, and was nationally celebrated for cracking the glass ceiling.

However, there have been insinuations that she was murdered, and calls for investigation into her death have been ringing thus for many days now.

Consequently, the Nigerian Air Force launched an investigation into the events that resulted in her death. The preliminary investigation report signed by IBIKUNLE DARAMOLA, Air Commodore, Director of Public Relations and Information Nigerian Air Force, shed light on the circumstances leading to her death.

Read the full report below:

On 14 July 2020, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), and indeed the entire Nation, was thrown into mourning as a result of the death of one of our shining young stars in the person of Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile, the NAF’s first female combat helicopter pilot.

Her unfortunate demise has elicited an overwhelming outpouring of condolences, prayers and support to the NAF as well as the Arotile Family. This has no doubt been so, not just for Tolulope’s outstanding accomplishments at the tender age of 24, but also because of her sterling personal qualities of excellence, hard work, dedication to duty, confidence and courage, which endeared her to her superiors, subordinates and peers in the Service.

Unfortunately, because of the peculiar circumstances of the incident that led to her death, a rash of falsehoods, innuendos, conspiracy theories and the likes have been propagated in the public space, especially on Social Media. The NAF sincerely hopes that the findings of the just-concluded preliminary investigation into this unfortunate and painful incident will address the misinformed issues raised in the Social Media on the tragedy.

Moreover, while it would have been ideal for the entire investigation to be concluded before details on the incident are released, the NAF, in sensitivity to public concerns occasioned by the spread of false information, appreciates the imperative to provide more clarity at this very difficult moment. Please note that the details being revealed today have already been communicated to the Arotile Family, who ideally should be allowed to mourn their daughter and sister in peace, but for the unfortunate nature of the sad occurrence.

In line with the normal procedure in the Nigerian Air Force during such occurrences, an investigation was immediately instituted to formally determine the circumstances of the incident. Accordingly, the preliminary investigation has revealed the following details:

The Late Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile, a Squadron Pilot at the 405 Helicopter Combat Training Group (405 HCTG) Enugu, attached to the Air Component of Operation GAMA AIKI in Minna, having recently completed her Promotion Examinations, was in Kaduna awaiting deployment for her next assignment. During this period, she stayed with her sister, Mrs Damilola Adegboye, at Sabo Area in Kaduna, visiting the NAF Base whenever necessary.

On 14 July 2020 at about 10.55am, Late Flying Officer Arotile received a phone call from her colleague, Flying Officer Perry Karimo, a fellow helicopter pilot from the 405 HCTG, who wanted to discuss arrangements for their return to Enugu, requesting that she comes to the Base so that they could work out the modalities.

Subsequently, at about 10.58am, the Late Arotile placed a call through to Squadron Leader Diepiriye Batubo, the Group Operations Officer (GOO) of 405 HCTG, who was in Minna at the time, to clarify issues regarding her deployment. It must be highlighted that the call FROM Flying Officer Karimo as well as the one TO the Squadron Leader Batubo both took place before 11.00am, over 5 hours before the incident which led to her death.

Flying Officer Arotile was later conveyed from Sabo to the NAF Base Kaduna by her sister, Mrs Adegboye, where the Deceased dropped her phone for charging at a house in the Instructor Pilots’ Quarters belonging to Squadron Leader Alfa Ekele. Her elder sister later dropped her off at the Base Mammy Market at about 4.00pm, where she proceeded to photocopy and laminate some documents.

It was while she was returning from the Mammy Market at about 4.30pm that 3 of her former schoolmates at the Air Force Secondary School (now Air Force Comprehensive School) Kaduna; Mr Nehemiah Adejoh, Mr Igbekele Folorunsho and Mr Festus Gbayegun, drove past her in a Kia Sorento SUV, with Registration Number AZ 478 MKA. It is noteworthy that Messrs Adejoh, Folorunsho and Gbayegun are all civilians who live outside NAF Base Kaduna, but were on their way to visit one Mrs Chioma Ugwu, wife of Squadron Leader Chukwuemeka Ugwu, who lives at Ekagbo Quarters on the Base.

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.

Flying Officer Arotile was subsequently rushed to the 461 NAF Hospital Kaduna for treatment, while Mr Folorunsho (one of the occupants of the vehicle) who is also an Accident & Emergency Nurse at the St Gerard Catholic Hospital Kaduna, administered First Aid.

Flying Officer Arotile was confirmed dead by the On-Call Doctor at the 461 NAF Hospital at about 4.45pm on 14 July 2020, as a result of the head injuries.

The trio of Messrs Nehemiah Adejoh, Igbekele Folorunsho and Festus Gbayegun were immediately detained at the Air Provost Wing, 453 Base Services Group Kaduna as investigations began. They were subjected to Toxicology Tests at the 461 NAF Hospital but no traces of alcohol or psychotropic substances were found in their systems. It was however discovered that the driver of the vehicle, Mr Nehemiah Adejo, did not have a valid driver’s license.

Traffic Officers from the Kawo Police Station and the Kaduna State Police Command as well as Road Traffic experts from the Federal Road Safety Corp were also called in to provide support during the investigation.

Having carefully considered the foregoing, the preliminary investigation concluded that:

The death of Flying Officer Arotile was caused by blunt force trauma to the head and significant bleeding resulting from being struck by the vehicle.

Being a civil case, the matter will be handed over to the Nigeria Police with a view to further investigating and charging the suspects to court in accordance with extant laws.

The Nigerian Air Force, being a highly professional and disciplined organization, will not join issues with any individuals or groups regarding the spurious allegations of ‘foul play’ espoused in some quarters. Suffice it to say that Flying Officer Arotile was a pride of the NAF in whom the Service had invested massively in terms of resources, time and energy. Consequently, it is ludicrous for anyone to even remotely insinuate malevolent intent on the part of the Service against one of its most prized assets.

Furthermore, it is extremely sad and disheartening that, rather than allow the Arotile Family and the Nigerian Air Force to grieve for our dearly departed Tolulope in peace, many have chosen to politicize her death, while others are using the incident to push meritless, misguided ethnic and religious agendas.

The Nigerian Air Force wishes to implore everyone to respect the sensibilities of all those who have suffered most by this loss, those who really knew Tolulope – her family, her friends and her Nigerian Air Force colleagues. It is of absolute importance that the memory of this Fallen Hero and our precious child is not tainted by the propagation of misplaced sentiments and wild shenanigans.

Before I end this august address, may I respectfully, on behalf of the Chief of the Air Staff, the entire personnel of the NAF as well as members of the Arotile Family, express my profound appreciation to all those who in one way or the other have shown concern, support and sympathy over this unfortunate incident.
Thank you for your attention.

IBIKUNLE DARAMOLA, Air Commodore, Director of Public Relations and Information Nigerian Air Force.

Growth and success in life require drawing a deliberate plan and following a process that does not in any way contradict the plan. 

Nkem Offonabo, founder of The Work-Life Organisation Global Ltd is with Taofik Sanni to discuss the work-life dynamics for professionals and mapping the future you desire (for young professionals) through telling her story and how she became one of the top 50 Leading Ladies in Corporate Nigeria.

Who is Nkem Offonabo?

Nkem Offonabo is a purpose-driven woman who has moved from being stuck to living purposefully and is now empowered to help busy professionals and entrepreneurs (who are overwhelmed, burned out and unable to prioritise their personal and professional realities) to meaningful and rewardingly prioritise the critical dimensions of their life to achieve optimum performance, productivity and profitability in life and work.

Professionally, Nkem is a graduate in Psychology with a SEMP (Special Executive Management Program) MBA from Metropolitan School of Business and Management, UK.

She is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHRi®) and an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (ACIPM) with 12 years’ work experience spanning Recruitment, Selection and On-Boarding, Employee Relations, Organisation Development and Change Management, Product and Business Development in the Financial Services Industry.

She is currently working as a Business Development Manager at First City Monument Bank Limited.

Nkem is also a trained Life Coach and Neuro Linguistic Programming Professional. She is the Founder of The Work-Life Organisation Global Ltd, a Professional Coaching and Human Resources Management Consultancy, where she works with individuals and organisations to provide coaching and training on employee wellness, work-life harmony, personal and organisational effectiveness as well as Human Resource Advisory.

She is the convener of Work-Life Conversation, a highly sought-after group coaching community of working professionals and entrepreneurs. She has been featured on The Pink Network – ‘Woman 2 Watch’, She Leads Africa and Plus TV Africa. She was recently recognised as one of the Top 50 Leading Ladies in Corporate Nigeria by Leading Ladies Africa.

Nkem is on a mission to help busy professionals and entrepreneurs achieve Work-Life Harmony.

You have such a heavyweight educational experience spiced up with a very attractive professional profile and personal outlook. What motivated you to add the Neuro Linguistic Programming Practice to your expertise?

In my search for wholesomeness and personal excellence after experiencing a mental breakdown at a point in my life, I got exposed to the transforming power of life coaching. Healing through the process brought me to the realisation that one cannot prosper if the soul is unhealthy.

I have come to realise that the soul is so powerful, it controls our thoughts and emotions which control the decisions we make, decisions on the other hand control our actions and our actions control our results.

It will interest you to know that 95% of the diseases we suffer is as a result of the lack of ease we experience; mentally, physically, emotionally, environmentally, etc. So, if you need things to change towards the wholesomeness that you seek and for you to experience personal excellence, then your thoughts, beliefs, words, language and emotions has to change.

Getting trained as an NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) professional has helped me to understand the interaction of my neural system (sight, smell, touch, taste, hearing), it’s interpretations in the form of language and other nonverbal communication and my ability to communicate those interpretations to myself and others in order to achieve my desired results and live the life of my dream.

Looking at your experience working with career professionals as a trained coach, what sure secrets have you discovered that can help or accelerate the career growth of young professionals?

Success secret is universal.

Whether the goal is about changing career, taking your relationship to the next level, achieving financial freedom or improving your health, the first and most important secret is to prioritise gaining CLARITY.

Majority of working professionals ventured into the world of work without clarity about their career path. All they wanted at a point was a good job to pay the bills, but a couple of years down the road, with developed skill sets, better understanding of what a meaningful job is or what career success means to them, the expectations are different.

As captured in my bestselling book, The Harmonised Life, there are five (5) core pillars of career fulfilment that once you define and prioritise them, leads to gaining clarity, owning your career and finding fulfilment in your chosen path. But if these pillars are misaligned, there is a high probability that you won’t be feeling completely fulfilled in your career. They are: Values, Strengths, Interests, Personality and Lifestyle. Think about how much time you will spend at work in your lifetime, about 90,000 hours for the average person. Make sure you make the most of the time by pursuing a career that makes you happy, aligns with your core, utilises your talents and solves global problems.

Secondly, visualise who you want to become in your career and pursue that vision with intentionality. Set SMART and well-formed goals that will lead you to your desired outcome(s).

Thirdly, while you may not already be in that role, be good at what you do and be open to diverse learning opportunities. Acquiring diverse experiences will create a huge learning opportunity that will position your skillset and competences and help you thrive in your chosen career path.

Fourthly, be deliberate about building a professional network. Research has it that up to 85% of open positions are filled through networking and strategic hiring. You must be able to add to your network and not just leech off it – contribute meaningfully or volunteer your own resources, time and expertise.

Finally, find a career coach, mentor or sponsor who will keep you accountable to your goals, give you the required support and help position you to your dream career.

Thank you, Nkem, for that detailed response. So drawing from your experiences in the past 10 years, what would you say about the nature of the Nigerian professional work-life culture?

In my opinion, our society is getting more complex and fast-paced; so is our workplace. With the ever-changing nature of work, the employers’ demands for maximum revenue and profit, and the increasing pressures to perform and exceed expectations, majority of working professionals have neglected other dimensions of their lives like their emotions, health, courage, family, passion, friendships, finance, rest, spirituality and peace of mind.

As a result, they get stressed, ill, burnt out because they’re unable to take control of or prioritise these critical areas of their lives including work.

How then can any employer or organization really achieve the best results when it’s core assets – it’s people are not living fully optimised lives?

I heard something like The Harmonised Life, can you tell us more about it and why should anyone rush to pay for one or more?

You heard right!

The Harmonised Life is a Personal Leadership and Transformational book written for the busy professionals and entrepreneurs who are overwhelmed, burned out and unable to prioritise but are seeking to find new meaning and reason to enhance their performance, productivity and profitability. Owning, reading and implementing the strategies in this book will help you design your own blueprint for living a meaningful and productive life across the critical areas of life, so that you can achieve all-round success, peace and harmony, irrespective of the challenges life throws at you in order to continually stay winning, personally and professionally.

With extensive research on employees across several industries and with intend to discover what makes for an intrinsically and extrinsically enabling workplace, this book is also written with the employer in mind. Implementing the strategies as captured in chapter 6, The Role of Organisations will help (M)SMEs, Corporates, Institutions, etc create a more human workplace where people and business thrive.

You shouldn’t miss buying a copy or hundreds of copies for yourself, your team and your employees. Get yours at https://nkemoffonabo.com/

Can you share with us the greatest fear you ever nursed in your heart about your career and how did you overcome the fear?

When I started my banking career in 2008, I had envisioned that I would give the paid employment at least 15 years to grow to the peak of my career dream as a Global Human Resource Executive but life happened. After 11+ years in my career, I realised that I had almost reached the 15-year mark and was not anywhere close to that dream career, having moved from an HR role to a Sales role in 2013. This brought in a rude awakening, a feeling of regret, confusion and a quest for clarity and direction.

For the many years I spent in a sales role, I felt a huge gap leaving my Human Resources role. While I felt that selling wasn’t exactly what I enjoyed doing, I decided to look at the bright side of things and began to see meaning in my role as a sales manager. I realised that the skill set and competencies I acquired in the role had challenged my introverted personality and provided a paradigm shift in the right direction. It exposed me to the fundamental issues around life and business. I became aware of the principle of need identification, the power of value creation, the need for personal and professional branding, building meaningful relationships and profitable partnerships, and employing the discipline of execution.

While developing the skills needed to thrive in the sales role, I made deliberate decisions towards building my desired career path. I vigorously pursued my career aspirations by deepening my knowledge of Human Resources. I got certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHRi) and became an Associate Member, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (ACIPMN). I embraced personal development and leveraged my multiple skills to create value for people. I carved out a niche for myself and deliberately built an irresistible brand in the area of Work-Life Harmony and founded a thriving Professional Coaching and Human Resources Management Consultancy that offers Coaching, Learning and Development interventions and Human Resources Advisory to Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) and Corporate Organisations. I have co-hosted and organised successful training and workshops for over 1,000 working professionals and entrepreneurs. I have also been a public speaker at several local and international conferences. While leveraging on my social capital, I was able to project my skills and expertise in delivering value. As a result, I have been featured and interviewed on different media platforms and have been recognised as one of the top 50 Leading Ladies in Corporate Nigeria by Leading Ladies Africa for my contribution in the corporate space.

Through it all, I have learnt how to harness my strengths and play down on my weaknesses. I am only able to do these from a place of self awareness, a convincing purpose, a compelling vision, deliberate self-development, a high dose of positivity backed by empowering personal values, building confidence in my abilities, leveraging relationships, committed actions towards achieving my desired results and living the life of my dream.

Nkem, you have truly expressed courage and resilience with your eyes on your goals. Your story says a lot about encouraging others to go for their dreams.

Thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts with us today. I am sure many out there would be glad to learn from your expertise.