Nigerian President Yar’Adua, 58, dies

LAGOS, Nigeria – Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua, long plagued by poor health, has died at age 58, almost three months after his vice president assumed control of Africa’s most populous nation, Yar’Adua’s spokesman said.

Yar’Adua died Wednesday night at the Aso Rock presidential villa with his wife Turai at his side, said presidential spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi. He did not give a cause of death.

Yar’Adua took office in 2007 in a country notorious for corruption and gained accolades for being the first leader to publicly declare his personal assets when taking office – setting up a benchmark for comparison later to see if he misappropriated funds. But enthusiasm for his presidency waned as time passed and he made no headway in fighting entrenched corruption.

He had tried to end peacefully an insurgency in Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta that had attacked the petroleum infrastructure, allowing Angola to overtake Nigeria as Africa’s no. 1 oil exporter. Those efforts frayed after Yar’Adua became gravely ill.

Yar’Adua went to a Saudi Arabian hospital on Nov. 24 to receive treatment for what officials described as a severe case of pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart that can cause a fatal complication. He failed to formally transfer his powers to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, sparking a constitutional crisis in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, with 150 million people.

Jonathan assumed the presidency Feb. 9 after a vote by the National Assembly while Yar’Adua was still in Saudi Arabia. Lawmakers left open the possibility for Yar’Adua to regain power if he returned to the country in good health. He returned on Feb. 24 but never reappeared in public and did not assume power again.