Nigerian President Yar’Adua Returns as Deputy Retains Power

Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Nigerian Vice President Goodluck Jonathan will remain the acting leader of Africa’s top oil producer while ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua continues recuperating after his return to the capital, Abuja, today.

Yar’Adua was discharged by doctors in Saudi Arabia, where he had been receiving treatment for a heart ailment for three months, and “his health has greatly improved,” presidential adviser Olusegun Adeniyi said in a statement.

Jonathan, who was appointed by parliament as acting president on Feb. 9, met the Cabinet today and said he had been briefed by the president’s aides about Yar’Adua’s return, Information Minister Dora Akunyili said.

Yar’Adua, 58, was flown to Saudi Arabia on Nov. 23 for the treatment of a heart condition and has not been seen in public since. His failure to properly transfer power to Jonathan prompted parliament to act in order to head off a constitutional crisis in Africa’s most populous country.

The U.S. today expressed concern over the possible impact of Yar’Adua’s return to Nigeria.

“We hope that President Yar’Adua’s return to Nigeria is not an effort by his senior advisors to upset Nigeria’s stability and create renewed uncertainty in the democratic process,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Johnnie Carson, said in a statement e-mailed by the U.S. Embassy in Abuja.

Nigeria is the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports. Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., Total SA and Eni SpA run joint ventures with the state oil company that together pump more than 80 percent of Nigeria’s crude.

Running Mate

Jonathan, 52, an ethnic Ijaw from the oil-rich Niger River delta state of Bayelsa, won praise for quickly sending troops to contain last month’s violent clashes in the north central city of Jos. More than 300 people died in the fighting between Christians and Muslims, according to the police.

Jonathan, who holds a doctorate degree in zoology from Nigeria’s University of Port Harcourt, ran in the 2007 presidential elections as Yar’Adua’s running mate. They won the ballot, which local and foreign observers described as flawed because of widespread violence, underage voting and ballot snatching.

“Nigeria needs a strong, healthy, and effective leader to ensure the stability of the country and to manage Nigeria’s many political, economic, and security challenges,” Carson said in the statement.