Nigeria’s Yar'Adua Denies Any Plans to Resign

Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua has denied speculation that he was planning to step down resign owing to ill health. Yar'Adua’s spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi released a statement denying the validity of an email purportedly circulated by the state owned News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), which spread word that Yar'Adua was soon going to step down on health grounds. The agency has since distanced itself from the rumours. Yar'Adua's health has been regular subject of media speculation right from his 2007 presidential campaign. Last month, Nigerian media outlets announced that the president was undergoing treatment for a grave kidney ailment in Saudi Arabia, despite official insistence that he was undertaking a Muslim religious pilgrimage. [PE]