A former Nigerian youth international Gift Atulewa has died barely a month after his wife passed on.
Atulewa, 38, played for the Flying Eagles in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands. He died Tuesday after suffering from high blood pressure complications.
“We just buried the wife last month, that may have contributed to this development,” said Mr. Azuka Chiemeka who is the Delta Football Association spokesperson told Premium Times
“He has blood pressure issues, but he has been managing it, just day before yesterday, the condition became bad and he was taken to the hospital, they noticed he had malaria but aside from that, the blood pressure kept going up, we lost him this morning by 7 a.m.
“As we are speaking, there is an ex-international football tournament going on in Delta State and he is part of the ex Uwei where he comes from, he is part of their team, he scored the first goal of the tournament from his wonderful free kick that he is known for, he scored that goal like three weeks ago when the competition began.”
Atulewa played for several Nigerian clubides including Bayelsa United F.C and Warri Wolves F.C. He recently returned from Cote d’Ivoire, where he completed a coaching course.
Atulewa becomes the third member of the 2005 U-20 set to pass away, following Olufemi Adebayo and Isaac Promise.
