**Nigeria’s deputy leader Goodluck Jonathan is still the country’s acting president while Umaru Yar’Adua is sick, the information minister has said.**Dora Akunyili was speaking after confusion about who was really in charge after President Yar’Adua unexpectedly returned home.
Earlier an official statement pointedly referred to Mr Jonathan as vice-president, giving him far less power.
Some fear a power struggle is under way between rival power brokers.
“Dr Goodluck Jonathan, the acting president, is in charge,” Ms Akunyili told Reuters news agency.
“There is no way he can go back to vice-president without going through the process that made him acting president.”
YAR’ADUA ILLNESS TIMELINE
- 23 Nov 2009: Goes to hospital in Saudi Arabia
- 26 Nov: Doctors say he has pericarditis, a heart problem
- 23 Dec: First court case filed urging him to step down
- 12 Jan: President gives telephone interview from Saudi Arabia
- 27 Jan: Cabinet declares president fit
- 9 Feb: Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan made acting president
- 24 Feb: Yar’Adua returns
Profile: President Umaru Yar’Adua
Suffering and cursing in Nigeria
Yar’Adua returns: Your comments
The BBC’s Caroline Duffield in the capital, Abuja, says the status of acting president is critical.
She says an acting president can sign legislation, chair cabinet meetings, reshuffle ministers and release oil funds.
Until he was formally made acting president earlier this month, he had enjoyed only a ceremonial role since Mr Yar’Adua went for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia last November.
On his return on Tuesday, the presidency called him vice-president and only said he would “continue to oversee the affairs of state”.
Our correspondent says that behind the scenes, this is all about a ferocious scramble for power and access to Nigeria’s vast oil revenues.
President Yar’Adua himself is hidden from view, surrounded by a reclusive clique and his wife is seen as increasingly dominant.
For two days no-one has been able to say who holds power and it is not clear what should happen next, our reporter says.
Late on Wednesday, the Senate sought to avoid a repeat of the constitutional uncertainty by voting to force future leaders who are sick to step aside after 14 days’ absence from office.
However, this has to be approved by the House of Representatives and two-thirds of state legislatures.
Mr Yar’Adua’s condition is unknown and he has not been seen in public since 23 November.
“We do not think he has the capacity today. We are appealing to him, and his handlers, that he should honourably resign his appointment,” Osita Okechukwu of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties, a group representing opposition parties, told the BBC on Wednesday.