Nigerian MPs visit Yar'Adua

2010-02-09 13:51

Jeddah - Nigerian lawmakers were in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to meet ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua, whose 10-week hospitalisation in the kingdom has sparked political turmoil in Abuja, an embassy official said.

The delegation from the Nigerian House of Representatives arrived on Monday in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, the official said by telephone on condition of anonymity.

The lawmakers are due to meet Yar'Adua, who checked into Jeddah's King Faisal Specialist Hospital on November 23 for an acute heart condition.

Last month Nigerian lawmakers voted to send the delegation to Saudi Arabia to visit Yar'Adua in hospital and discuss "issues of national importance".

Critics and analysts in Nigeria said the president's absence has created a political vacuum, since he has not handed over presidential powers to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan before heading to Saudi Arabia.

In mid-January the Federal High Court in Abuja ruled that Jonathan could carry out the president's functions in his absence, but could not become acting president.

During the president's absence, Africa's most populous country experienced an outbreak of bloody clashes between Muslims and Christians in the north that left hundreds dead.

It also became the focus of international scrutiny after a Nigerian man linked to al-Qaeda attempted to blow up a US airliner on Christmas Day.

The failed bombing led the United States to place Nigeria on a list of 14 countries from which travellers would face extra security checks, angering Abuja.

Abdullah Aminchi, Nigeria's ambassador to Saudi Arabia has regularly reported that Yar'Adua - who is convalescing in a VIP residence operated by the hospital - is improving and would soon return to Abuja.

- AFP