Madrid  - A surgeon has been sentenced to a year in prison for his role the death of then Nigerian first lady Stella Obasanjo following cosmetic surgery at a southern Spanish clinic in 2005, press reports said Tuesday.

Stella Obasanjo, wife of then Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, died at age 59, two days after the liposuction at the Marbella clinic.

Surgeon Antonio Mena committed several professional errors, the Malaga court found.

The surgeon will have to pay 120,000 euros (177,000 dollars) in damages to Stella Obasanjo's son and insurance company, but none to the Nigerian government.

Mena was also barred from exercising his profession for three years. Because the surgeon has no criminal record, he will not need to actually serve the prison sentence.

Olusegun Obasanjo was president of Nigeria from 1976 to 1979 and from 1999 to 2007. (dpa)