20100205
presstv

Nigeria's ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua finally concedes to handing over power to his deputy as influential state governors call on the parliament to support him.

In a Friday emergency meeting, thirty-six Nigerian governors backed a proposal for the Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to temporarily take over the helms of the government and end the political vacuum created by the president's lengthy hospitalization abroad.

The Nigeria Governors' Forum said in a statement that it "resolved to meet the leadership of the National Assembly with a view to urging them to pass a resolution to formally recognize the vice president as the acting president in the interest of the nation."

The Forum also urged the parliament to pass a resolution by next week to recognize Jonathan as the acting president. It also called on all arms of the government to continue giving "full and total support to the acting president until the president returns."

Yar'Adua has been hospitalized in Saudi Arabia since November 23, 2009 for an acute heart condition.