Deputy takes powers of absent President

Goodluck Jonathan. Photo / AP

ABUJA - Nigeria's Parliament empowered Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan to run Africa's most populous nation yesterday in place of an ill and absent President.

The move strives for a political end to a crisis that brought the Government to a virtual halt and triggered the resumption of an insurgency in the vital oil sector.

But the move is not contemplated in the constitution, legal experts say, and could cause more friction between the Christian south, which gains the presidency at least temporarily, and Muslim north, which finds itself out of the seat of power.

Jonathan told the nation in a televised address yesterday that he had assumed power as Acting President and commander-in-chief.

He urged all Nigerians to pray for elected President Umaru Yar'Adua, who left for Saudi Arabia on November 23.

Yar'Adua's doctor has said the 58-year-old, who has long suffered from kidney ailments, is being treated for acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart.

Much of the Government has been at a standstill. Yar'Adua did not write a letter to the Vice-President alerting him to the medical absence and empowering him to act as President, as called for in the 1999 constitution.

Yar'Adua's absence has caused a ceasefire he negotiated with insurgents in the oil-rich Niger Delta to unravel and oil contracts have gone unsigned.

The political turmoil in a powerful country with a long history of coups and military dictatorships recently prompted the United States and European leaders to call on the nation to follow its constitution.

Newspapers began worrying about possible coup scenarios as Yar'Adua's absence grew longer. However, military leaders insist they have no ambitions to take power and will respect the constitution.

Jonathan thanked the security services during his address "for their loyalty and devotion to duty during this trying period".

Both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed measures calling on Jonathan to act as President and commander-in-chief until Yar'Adua returns from Saudi Arabia. There is no indication that will be any time soon, and details about his illness remain unknown to the public.

- AP