The Senior Special Assistant to Kogi state governor Alhaji Yahaya Bello on Political Matters, Omoluabi Olabode Adeyemi has expressed sadness over the death of Nigeria’s first female combat helicopter pilot, Tolulope Arotile.
Omoluabi said the late Flight officer departed this sinful world at such a tender age when her brilliance, capacity and unprecedented attainment is mostly needed.
Omoluabi in a statement issued on Wednesday said, “However Tolu most likely had perfect understanding of the words of Chuck Palahniuk that succinctly put it that ‘We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will’ when she struggled to become the first Nigerian female combat helicopter pilot at a little above twenty. Whether she lived long or not, this will continue to immortalise her in the annals of our history.”
The governor’s aide further said the legacy of bravery Arotile left at the age of 24 before she departed will for a long time be reason for which she will be remembered.
“As painful as her death is to us, at 24, she has conquered death, not like those that passed this life without events to remember about them. In the words of Ralph Weldo Emerson ‘It is not length of life, but depth of life’.
“Tolu lived just a little less than two and half decade but the depth of her life has created a space those who lived like Methuselah couldn’t. She most obviously knew it was going to be a short sojourn and she applied the most use of it that she recorded feats millions couldn’t” he said.
He added, “Leo Buscaglia says ‘Death is a challenge. It tells us not to waste time… It tells us to tell each other right now that we love each other’.
“I want to submit that the short but purposeful life of Tolu says a lot about how we must not waste anytime because death can come knocking anytime like the case of our dearly beloved sister.
“Now that our dear Tolu is gone, the rest is left for us, the living, to access our lives, to review our existence, to make sure we write our names on the indelible side of life, so that when we die our works will live on.
“Although we mourn, we still celebrate what she stood for, we recount her exemplary life, we are therefore consoled by the words of our Lord Jesus in John 11:25-27
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die’.
“I know we will meet again at resurrection.
“Adieu Tolu Arotilo” he said.
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