Falcons mourn, as doctors unravel mystery around Akujobi’s death

Players and officials of the Super Falcons are mourning. A few days after playing her role as Media Officer of the team at the recently concluded FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada, Gracious Akujobi, is no more.

She died in the early hours of yesterday in an Abuja General Hospital.

The 33-year-old journalist, who was formerly the Media Officer of the Nigeria women U-17 team, Falconets, was said to have slumped in the team’s hotel at about 6.00 am, and died about two hours later.

The Super Falcons are preparing for a crucial Olympic Games qualifier against Equatorial Guinea this weekend in Abuja, and the death of Akujobi yesterday has thrown everyone in the camp off balance.

According to an official of the team, Akujobi complained of cold on Wednesday evening and the doctor gave her some drugs. “But we have discovered she didn’t take the drugs given to her by the doctor. At about 6.00am today (yesterday), she came out of her room, apparently struggling to get to the doctor’s room, but she slumped on the corridor. Some of our players who were going out for morning training saw her on the floor and raised the alarm, which attracted team officials. We rushed her to the hospital, but she died even before they could trace her card,” the official said.

The Chairperson of the Women Football Committee in the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Mrs. Dilichukwu Onyedimma, confirmed Akujobi’s death in a telephone chat with The Guardian yesterday, saying: “This is tragic.”

A team of doctors in Abuja were said to have taken Akujobi’s autopsy to unravel the actual cause of her death.