By Deborah Nnamdi
The Nigerian football community has been hit with another devastating news former youth international Gift Atulewa is dead.
The prolific forward reportedly died at the age of 38.
Azuka Chiemeka, spokesperson for the Delta State Football Association, re-confirmed the sad news.
According to Mr Azuka, Atulewa succumbed to complications from high blood pressure around 7 a.m. on Tuesday.
“We just buried the wife last month, which may have contributed to this development.
“He had blood pressure issues, but he has been managing it; just a 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, and we lost him this morning by 7 a.m.” The Delta State FA spokesperson said.
Mr Azuka reflected on Atulewa’s recent involvement in football, saying, “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.”
Additionally, Atulewa had recently returned from Cote d’Ivoire, where he completed a coaching course.
Unfortunately, he won’t be putting the certificate to use.
The talented player, Atulewa, began his career with Bayelsa United F.C. before moving to Ocean Boys F.C. and later Warri Wolves F.C., where he featured prominently.
He was a member of the Nigerian U-20 team that participated in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands.
Sadly, Atulewa becomes the third member of the 2005 U-20 set to pass away, following Olufemi Adebayo and Isaac Promise.
