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Stella Obasanjo, wife of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, died Sunday at a hospital in Spain, officials said.
LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- Stella Obasanjo, wife of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, died Sunday at a hospital in Spain, officials said.
She had traveled to Spain to undergo surgery and died from complications resulting from that surgery, authorities said.
Obasanjo, 59, was "rushed to the hospital late Saturday and the condition became critical," an official at the Nigerian Embassy in Madrid told CNN.
"We don't know the details" of her death on Sunday, the official added, declining to give his name.
The official said the Nigerian ambassador to Spain and key embassy aides from Madrid were traveling to Malaga.
Arrangements were being made to return Obasanjo's remains to Nigeria "as soon as possible."
The official said he did not know when Obsanjo arrived in Marbella. She would have turned 60 on November 14, he said.
The Spanish Foreign Ministry told CNN that Obasanjo was on a private visit to Marbella, and that her body was in a morgue in the nearby town of Malaga, where an investigating magistrate was conducting an autopsy.
The ministry referred any other questions to Nigerian authorities.
Obasanjo was hailed as the Nigerian president's "beloved wife," according to a one-sentence statement signed by presidential spokeswoman Remi Oyo, The Associated Press reported.
Her death came a day after a passenger jet carrying 117 people crashed shortly after takeoff from Lagos, Nigeria's largest city. (Full story)
Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki sent a message of condolence to Obasanjo and described the leader's wife as a motherly figure who inspired women in Nigeria and across Africa, The Associated Press reported.
"On behalf of the government and the people of Kenya, and on my own behalf, I extend our heartfelt condolences to your presidency personally and through you to all Nigerians," Kibaki said in a statement.
CNN's Jeff Koinange and Al Goodman contributed to this report