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 at the presidential villa with his wife Turai at his side, presidential spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi said. Adeniyi did not give a cause of death.
A Muslim, Yar’Adua will be buried today, Adeniyi said.
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 corruption.
He had tried to peacefully end 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.
