Encomium
President Muhammadu Buhari lauds one of the pioneer pilots in Nigerian aviation, Captain Rufus Adetunji Orimoloye, who has taken his ‘last flight,’ aged 89.
The President salutes the many decades of commitment to the aviation sector by the departed, who trained as a pilot between 1954 and 1956 in the United Kingdom, and then returned home to ply his trade, first with West African Airways, and later Nigerian Airways for 26 years.
President Buhari recalls that Captain Orimoloye flew with the Presidential Fleet, and was also Chief Flight Instructor and Director at Zaria Flight School between 1986 and 1988.
He says the contributions of the
departed will remain evergreen in the annals of the aviation industry in the
country, a fact already attested to by his being bestowed with the MFR National
Honour in 2009, and also the 50th Anniversary Award of International Civil
Aviation Organization(ICAO).
The President prays that the
Odofin Ayedun of Akure will rest well, while seeking God’s comfort for all
those who mourn him.
Femi Adesina
Special Adviser to the President
(Media and Publicity)
