A former Red Media partner and co-founder of The Future Awards, Emilia Asim-Ita is dead.
Emilia, who was aged 33, died on Friday morning after an appendicitis surgery.
She had in 2005 co-founded The Future Awards/The Future Nigeria project alongside Chude Jideonwo and Debola Williams, serving as the PR/marketing director for the convening organisation, RedSTRAT communications (now RED Media) for six years.
Emilia later created A’Lime Media, a multi-disciplinary, strategic communications firm in 2010 after ending her partnership with Jideonwo and Williams.
In a tweet on Saturday, the management of the AML said: “Words fail us. You were more than a boss. You were a friend, an inspiration and an outstanding person. You will forever remain in our hearts. Rest well, Emilia.”
Her brother, Williams Asim-Ita confirmed the cause of Emilia’s death, in a statement. He said: “My sister died yesterday at about 8:20 am. She had an appendix rupture. The appendix had a small lump underneath it and that lump burst; that spleen went to her intestines and it polluted some parts of her intestine. She had to go through a surgery to cut the affected part of the intestines. It was successful as it was done by a specialist.”
“She was supposed to be discharged today. She had been okay, strolling around and they had even changed her hospital dress to normal dress, which showed that she was ready to go home.
“Yesterday, she was about to take her normal morning routine stroll and that is how she slumped; before we knew it, we had lost her. She was in the hospital for about nine days. Immediately she learnt that she had a ruptured appendix, she went for the surgery the next day. The next morning the surgery was done and it was successful,” he added.