Former Nigerian striker, Shittu who has been bed-ridden with stroke since February, died around 12:30pm today at the General Hospital in Gbagada, Lagos State, Nigeria. He was aged 75.
A close of friend of the former NEPA-ECN player, veteran sports journalist, Segun Adenuga, confirmed his death this afternoon.
Adenuga said the late Shittu, who was survived by two boys and a girl, battled hard to stay alive from the ailment, “but he gave up in a painful way this afternoon, just 24 hours to the day that Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola plans to fly him to Indian for further treatment.”
According to Adenuga, “We have notified the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr. Lanre Babalola, to inform him of the latest development. The burial is tentatively fixed for Wednesday, 14 March, 2012. It is painful that Shittu has to leave his little children and rest of us at this period,” Adenuga lamented this afternoon.
Shittu, fondly called ‘The Bulldozer’ was one of the greatest footballers that ever played for Nigeria even under the colonial masters.
Born in Jos, Plateau State in 1937, by a Yoruba parentage, Amusa Shittu began his soccer career in 1958, when he featured for Plateau and Northern Region X1.
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