suffered after falling from the stairs of his Warri residence.
Atuwatse, who had also suffered a stroke recently, was due to have surgery at the Reddington Hospital in Victoria Island, Lagos, where he was transported to when he passed on, the sources said.
His body has been flown back to Warri for burial rites.
A bit of history for you...
According to Bini and Itsekiri histories Ginuwa, a prince of Benin founded the Iwerre (Warri) Kingdom about 1480.
In the 15th century Warri was visited by Portuguese missionaries. At the beginning of the 17th century, a son of the reigning Olu was sent to Portugal and returned with a Portuguese wife. Their son Antonio Domingo was Olu of Warri in the 1640s.
Olu Erejuwa, who reigned from about 1720 to 1800, expanded Warri politically and commercially, using the Portuguese to further Warri's independence of Benin and to establish control over a wider area.
Later Warri served as the base for Portuguese and Dutch slave traders. Warri became a more important port city during the late 19th century, when it became a centre for the palm oil trade and other major items such as rubber, palm products, cocoa, groundnuts, hides, and skins.
Warri was established as a provincial headquarters by the British in the early 20th century. In May 1952 the government of Western Nigeria changed the title of the Itsekiri ruler from the Olu of Itsekiri to the Olu of Warri, at the request of the Itsekiri. The Ijaw, Urhobo and other people of the community objected to the change, since they felt the new title implied that the Olu was ruler of Warri, not just of the Itsekiri.