The transition of power since the death of Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has been swift and efficient. Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, sworn in a day after the president's passing, declared a week of mourning for his predecessor. It is unclear if Mr. Jonathan will seek to win the office in his own right in elections scheduled next year. While many view him as a good candidate who could pursue Mr. Yar'Adua's pledge to tame the corruption that dominates Nigerian politics, his candidacy could also further intensify an internal conflict in the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP).
Mr. Yar'Adua was an unlikely president. While he came from an aristocratic family in northern Nigeria — his father was a minister in one of the first postindependence governments — his political prospects were thought to have been overshadowed by those of his older brother, Gen. Shehu Musa Yar'Adua, who was second in command in one of the military governments that ruled in the 1970s.
The younger Yar'Adua took a university degree — the first Nigerian president to do so — worked as a lecturer and went into business. He became governor of Katsina state and was selected by then President Olusegun Obasanjo to head the PDP ticket in the 2007 elections. Mr. Obasanjo might have hoped that he could continue to rule through his successor.
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