Nigerian president Umaru Yar'Adua has died, an official statement from the office of Acting President Goodluck Jonathan has confirmed Thursday morning.
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| Nigerian president Umaru Yar'Adua, pictured in 2007 |
"President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua is dead. He passed away on Wednesday night in the Presidential Villa, Abuja," Jonathan's spokesman, Ima Niboro said in the statement.
The president of Africa's most populous nation died after more than five months of battling with a heart ailment.
According to local media, he died between 9:30 and 10:30 pm (2030 and 2130 GMT) Wednesday.
Jonathan, who under the terms of the constitution will be sworn in as the new president, declared seven days of mourning and expressed shock at the death of his predecessor.
"Nigeria has lost the jewel on its crown, and even the heavens mourn with our nation tonight," Niboro's statement quoted Jonathan as saying.
"As individuals and as a nation we prayed for the recovery of Mr President. But we take solace in the fact that the Almighty is the giver and taker of all life," Jonathan said.
As a mark of respect for his former boss, Jonathan has cancelled all official engagements, the statement said. He had been scheduled to begin a three-day visit to southern Rivers State in oil-rich Niger Delta on Thursday.
Yar'Adua will be buried in his northern Katsina State on Thursday, which had been declared a work-free day, Niboro said.
During the mourning period, Nigerian flags would be flown at half-mast.
In neighbouring Benin, President Boni Yayi paid tribute to Yar'Adua.
"With the loss of this great statesman... Benin, my country, loses a great friend and I am very upset," he told AFP.
United States President Barack Obama on Wednesday in a statement expressed sadness at the death of Yar'Adua, and praised him as a man with a passionate belief in his nation's future.
"Tonight, we remember and honor President Yar'Adua's profound personal decency and integrity, his deep commitment to public service, and his passionate belief in the vast potential and bright future of Nigeria's 150 million people," he said.
"He was committed to creating lasting peace and prosperity within Nigeria's own borders, and continuing that work will be an important part of honoring his legacy," he said.
Yar'Adua flew to Saudi Arabia last November for treatment for a heart condition and after three months, amid growing concern at the power vacuum, parliament finally handed power to his deputy Goodluck Jonathan.
Since his return to Nigeria in February, Yar'Adua, 58, had not been seen in public, nor was any information released as to the state of his health.
Christian and Muslim leaders who visited the ailing president in April would give no details of his condition.
But there was constant tension between his supporters and those of Acting President Jonathan.
On March 17, Jonathan sacked the entire Yar'Adua-formed cabinet, and last month swore in his own team with less than half of its members drawn from the old government.
With Yar'Adua's death, Jonathan automatically becomes the head-of-state of Nigeria, one of the world's leading oil producers, and as such can complete the late Yar'Adua's term of office, which expires in May 2011.
The acting president has already promised to ensure free and fair elections but has not said much about his own political plans.
Yar'Adua's death comes at a difficult time for Africa's most populous nation.
Muslim-Christian violence erupted in central Nigeria earlier this year in which hundreds of people were killed, and there has been renewed unrest in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
Nigeria's third elected civilian president was recognised for his honesty in this corruption-ridden west African country. Yar'Adu was the fourth Nigerian leader but the first elected president to die in office.