Nigeria's president has died after a long illness, an official at his office has said.
Umaru Yar'Adua reportedly died around 2100 local time (2000 GMT) on Wednesday evening at the Aso Rock presidential villa in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
Ima Nioboro, a presidential spokesman, told reporters in Abuja that the 58-year-old president would be buried in his northern home state of Katsina as seven days of national mourning begins on Thursday.
Yar'Adua had returned to Nigeria in February after three months of medical treatment in Saudi Arabia, but had not been seen in public since.
Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege said the severity of his illness had been shrouded in secrecy since he was airlifted out of Nigeria in November 2009.
"He had always suffered some kind of sickness since becoming president, he had had kidney problems and the latest bout of illness was related to a heart condition," she said.
"There were so many local media reports that he was on the mend but we will never really know the true extent of his illness except that he had been terminally ill."
Power transfer
During his absence he failed to formally transfer his powers to his vice-president, Goodluck Jonathan, sparking a constitutional crisis in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with 150 million people
Nigeria has lost the jewel on its crown and even the heavens mourn with our nation tonight," Jonathan said in a statement.
"As individuals and as a nation we prayed for the recovery of Mr President. But we take solace in the fact that the Almighty is the giver and taker of all life."
Under Nigeria's constitution, Jonathan now becomes president until the next elections scheduled to be held by April 2011. He also will nominate a vice-president, subject to approval by the senate.
Jonathan assumed the position of acting president on February 9 after a vote by Nigeria's National Assembly while Yar'adua was still in Saudi Arabia.
The assembly left open the possibility for Yar'adua to regain power if he returned to the country in good health, but his long absence from public life and the secrecy surrounding his health sparked months of fierce speculation in the Nigerian media and constant tension between his supporters and those of the acting president.
Jonathan, meanwhile, has consolidated his power, appointing a new cabinet and his own team of advisers.
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