20091216

LAGOS (Reuters) - A leading Nigerian human rights lawyer has launched legal action to try to force President Umaru Yar'Adua to hand executive powers to his deputy while he is receiving medical treatment in Saudi Arabia.

Femi Falana, who was a prominent pro-democracy campaigner during military rule in Nigeria, said decisions made by the cabinet in Yar'Adua's absence were illegal because he had not formally handed over to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan.

Africa's most populous nation risked sliding into crisis if it continued to be unclear who was in charge, he said.

"When the president is not around and there is no acting president, the business of government will simply be paralysed," Falana said in a telephone interview, a day after filing his law suit with a federal high court in the capital Abuja.

"(The aim) is to compel President Yar'Adua to hand over formally to the vice president," he said.

The 58-year-old leader was flown to a clinic in Jeddah more than three weeks ago after complaining of chest pains and has been diagnosed with acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the membrane around the heart that can restrict normal beating.

The cabinet has dismissed calls for him to resign.

Justice Minister and Attorney-General Michael Aondoakaa was quoted on Wednesday as saying that Yar'Adua could exercise his presidential powers from anywhere in the world.