Lawyers in Nigeria have filed lawsuits in court arguing for the government to transfer executive power to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan. President Umaru Yar’Adua has been in Saudi Arabia for the . The main conflict in this situation is that the current President is Muslim and the Vice-President is a Christian, putting in jeopardy Nigeria’s long standing tradition that its President rotates between Muslims and Christians, and President Yar’Adua still has two years left in his term.
The situation poses a huge dilemma for the Continent as its most populous country is currently without a leader. Furthermore, if power switches back to the Christian Vice-President, there is thought to believe that the Muslim-dominated North will not accept it and a possible civil war could erupt. Additionally, Nigeria was recently put on a terrorist watch list by the United States after one of its citizens, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, tried to detonate an explosive on a U.S. flight.
Comments