FACT AND FIGURE ABOUT HIS EXCELLENCY YAR ' ADUA

President: Umaru Yar'Adua

Umaru Yar'Adua of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) won the presidency following the April 2007 elections which were condemned by local and foreign observers, who alleged widespread vote-rigging.

Nigerian president-elect Umaru Yar'Adua
Umaru Yar'Adua
He had served as governor of the remote northern Katsina state since May 1999. A little-known figure in national politics, he was chosen by outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo as his successor.

He comes from a prominent political family. His father was a minister in the first government after independence and his late elder brother was an army general who served as deputy to President Olusegun Obasanjo when he was Nigeria's military ruler during the 1970s.

When he was elected governor of Katsina in 1999, he immediately declared his assets. In his bid for the presidency he promised to fight corruption.

Mr Yar'Adua's health has been the subject of media speculation and during the election campaign he travelled to Germany for treatment.

He was born in 1951 and was a chemistry teacher until he went into business, then politics, in the 1980s.

Mr Yar'Adua took over from Olusegun Obasanjo, whose election in 1999 came at the end of a period of military rule. Mr Obasanjo won a second term in 2003. A bid to keep him in office for a third term was blocked by parliament.

Mr Obasanjo began his first leadership stint in 1976 after the assassination of Brigadier Murtala Mohamed in a failed coup. In 1979 he earned the distinction of becoming Africa's first modern military leader to hand over power to civilian rule.