Civil rights advocacy group, under the aegis of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Sunday expressed disappointment and dissatisfaction with the explanation by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on the cause of death of Nigeria’s first female combat pilot, Tolulope Arotile.
A statement by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf, said the best way to handle the “conundrum is for the Federal Government of Nigeria to constitute a high calibre team to carry out the Coroner’s inquest and for the comprehensive medical and autopsy examination to be conducted on her remains to put to rest the suspicions that she was killed because of her exploits against terrorists and armed bandits by internal moles inside the Nigerian military who are sympathetic to the terrorists and armed bandits”.
It said: “For the purpose of history, we in HURIWA are hereby asking the Nigerian government to adopt the most credible steps to investigate the remote and immediate cause of the death of this national icon, who is being suspected by millions to have been murdered and as most people are saying, this tale by moonlight from the Nigerian Air Force is grossly insufficient and indeed is a slap on our faces as a nation.
“There are too many loose ends that ought to be adequately addressed as far as her death is concerned. This additional information from the official quarters is not different from the hastily conjured reasons for her demise as was given to Nigerians by this same Air Force on the day of her death.
“We think dismissing this serious matter as a civil matter is reprehensible and odious. We condemn this attempt to obfuscate a very serious matter of state that should be adequately addressed, using the most credible independent mechanisms to arrive at a factually accurate finding.”
The Nation