File this one under bizarre. President Umaru Yar’Adua of Nigeria went to Saudi Arabia in November last year for medical treatment.  Then for the next 50 days a curtain of silence descended about the President’s health with no public statements from him, until he provided a telephone interview.  See link.  In his absence he failed to delegate his powers to Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan.  The result has been a constitutional crisis and uncertainty as to who is running the country.

Making things worse is the ethnic jumble that constitutes Nigeria. The President is a Muslim from the North, which has generally dominated Nigerian politics.  The Vice President is a Christian from the South, which has the oil and natural gas reserves.  This creates an inflammable mix of ethnic and religious tensions over a well of natural treasure.  While the North and South have alternated power since the end of military rule, as the article notes the failure to transfer powers to the Vice President may have occurred because Northern power-brokers may not want to give up power before the next election.

Nigerian democracy has creaked along in the decade since the death of Dictator Sani Abacha and has been very active in peace keeping missions across West Africa. However, domestically ethnic tensions have spiked as many Northern states decided to implement Sharia law.  The constitutional limbo caused by the President’s absence and the resulting rumors of his death were the last thing Nigeria needed.  While the President appears to be alive, the constitutional crisis is not over and turbulent times lie ahead for Africa’s troubled giant.

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