Nairobi/Abuja, Jan 22 (DPA) Nigeria’s Federal High Court Friday gave a two-week deadline to the West African nation’s cabinet to decide whether President Umaru Yar’Adua is fit to continue as leader.
Yar’Adua has been in a Saudi hospital since November with a heart problem. His absence has angered many in Nigeria and raised fears of a power vacuum in Africa’s most populous nation.
Opposition activists have brought several cases aimed at forcing Yar’Adua to step down and officially hand over power to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, while regular street protests have called for him to go.
They say Nigeria has too many pressing problems – such as frequent outbreaks of sectarian violence and a fragile peace in the oil-producing region – for the country to remain rudderless.
The ruling comes just one day after former president Olusegun Obasanjo urged Yar’Adua – who has broken his silence only once to vow to return to his duties – to step down if he is not fit enough to run the nation.
Doctors said in December that Yar’Adua was suffering from acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the lining of the heart. He is also known to have kidney problems.
