Acting President of Nigeria calls for unity

The acting President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, said it was premature to talk of him making a bid for the leadership in elections due by early next year and called for unity in the ruling party.

Mr Jonathan's spokesman said he "decried a situation where some persons were already positioning for the 2011 elections when an electoral timetable is yet to be released". There is disagreement within the ruling People's Democratic Party about who its presidential candidate should be.

President Umaru Yar'Adua, who is reportedly gravely ill with pericarditis, returned from a Saudi hospital in February. He remains too sick to rule and is therefore not likely to try to seek a second term.