Global News Journal
Beyond the World news headlines
from Africa News blog:
Yar’Adua death leaves succession wide open
The death of Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua is unlikely to plunge Africa's most populous state into crisis, but it intensifies what was already shaping up to be the fiercest succession race since the end of military rule.
Yar'Adua has been absent from the political scene since last November, when he left for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia, and his deputy Goodluck Jonathan has been running the country since February and has since consolidated his position.
Yar’Adua’s death now piles pressure on the powerbrokers in the ruling People's Democratic Party to resolve the impasse over who should succeed him.
According to the party's constitution, power should rotate between Nigeria's geographical zones, and there is an unwritten agreement that the presidency should alternate between the Muslim north and Christian south every two terms.
from Africa News blog:
What can Nigeria expect now?
The return of Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua three months after he left for a Saudi hospital might normally have beeen seen as a sign that a long spell of debilitating uncertainty was over.
But this was no ordinary return for a long absent president with an army band and a red carpet.
