The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has called on the President Muhammadu Buhari government, the National Assembly and the international community to investigate the remote and the immediate circumstances surrounding the death of Tolulope Arotile, Nigeria’s first female combat pilot.
Arotile reportedly died after a road accident in Kaduna State on Tuesday according to the Nigerian Air Force, NAF.
Afenifere, a body of Yoruba leaders, had made a similar call for a coroner’s inquest into the death of Arotile.
In an explanation that has triggered reactions, NAF said the officer died “when she was inadvertently hit by the reversing vehicle of an excited former Air Force Secondary School classmate while trying to greet her.”
But Afenifere had rejected the claim.
To lend its voice, HURIWA says its request for an investigation follows its suspicion that the official story released by the Airforce appeared like a tale by moonlight.
“In a normal civilized constitutional democracy, when such a suspicious death occurs, it is incumbent on the government to investigate legally.
This kind of story told about her death is not acceptable by any sane person,” HURIWA said.
The story of how she died as told by the Air Force has made Nigeria look like a banana republic, a place where the sanctity and sacredness of a human person is not respected.
HURIWA’s position was carried in a statement signed and made available to DAILY POST by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko.
“We are therefore calling on the Nigerian Government to set up a medical/ forensic/ ballistic investigation team to ascertain the actual cause of her death. We also want amnesty international to look into her death,” HURIWA added.
HURIWA accused Nigeria of killing its best professional on a daily basis due to political corruption that has become a trademark of 98% of powerfully connected politicians in Nigeria.
It said, “We made $206bn from crude oil in 5 years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime but there is no single national roads infrastructure that is motorable.
“Insecurity is at its peak and yet the same government goes about borrowing.”
