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Umaru Yar’Adua, the Nigerian president
who had been laid low by ill health
since November, died on Wednesday night.
The frail ruler’s death will see
Goodluck Jonathan, his deputy who has
consolidated his authority following an
uneasy power-struggle in Africa’s
biggest oil and gas producer, sworn in
as his substantive replacement.
“He died this evening,” Mr Yar’Adua’s
spokesman told the Financial Times.
Mr Yar’Adua, a son of Nigeria’s
predominantly Muslim north, is expected
to be buried on Thursday morning in
accordance with Islamic custom.
He is likely to be remembered more for
the uncertainty visited on Africa’s most
populous nation in his final months than
for a term in office that disappointed
many who had hoped his ascent would mark
a change of fortunes for a country whose
vast potential has been long thwarted by
the failures of its leaders.
With elections expected by April at the
latest, all eyes had turned to an
unpredictable succession race long
before the 58-year-old’s demise.
In poor health even before he emerged
from a relatively obscure state
governorship as the ruling party’s
candidate for the 2007 presidential
elections, Mr Yar’Adua travelled abroad
repeatedly for treatment for a chronic
kidney condition.
In November he was rushed to a Saudi
Arabian hospital after developing acute
preicarditis, an inflammation of the
lining around the heart. He has not been
seen in public since.
As Mr Jonathan, another unlikely
political heavyweight, began to assert
himself at home, rumours flew that Mr
Yar’Adua was close to the end. Political
insiders said his wife, Turai, was the
formidable director of a campaign to
keep him in office – nominally at least
– in a country where power is
underpinned by a patronage network
lubricated by oil revenues.
His dramatic return under cover of night
in February caused outrage after it
emerged that troops had been deployed in
Abuja, the capital, to escort him from
the airport to his residence, without
the knowledge of Mr Jonathan, the acting
commander in chief.
Mr Yar’Adua’s death could throw further
complications into the power games ahead
of the elections. Mr Jonathan might now
be required to appoint a vice-president
– a position whose occupant would expect
to be a leading contender for the
presidential ticket of the ruling party.
“It doesn’t change anything,” said one
official close to Mr Jonathan, who has
emerged with the upper hand after a
bitter tug-of-war with allies of Mr
Yar’Adua.
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