Nigeria's soft-spoken top candidate

Umaru Musa Yar'Adua is the ruling party's candidate in Sunday's presidential election.

By Sarah Simpson | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

from the April 16, 2007 edition

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Katsina, Nigeria - Habiba Yar'Adua, the sister of the man likely to become Nigeria's next president, points to a faded portrait of her brother as a boy smiling shyly in his matching hat and tunic.

Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's face now gazes from election posters nationwide as Africa's most populous country gets set to do what it has never done before: pass rule from one civilian to another.

Until Mr. Yar'Adua emerged as the ruling party presidential candidate, few had noticed the soft-spoken Muslim governor of Katsina, one of Nigeria's most remote states. Many say he's a pawn of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

But Habiba says he shouldn't be underestimated, arguing that, "He can do what people don't expect."

If Sunday's vote goes smoothly, the fifth-largest supplier of crude oil to the United States will soon have a new president.

But that's a big if. Hundreds of people have died in preelection violence and more than 21 people were killed in state and local government elections this Saturday.

With just days to go before the presidential vote, it is still not clear if Vice President Atiku Abubakar will be able to run or not. The electoral commission decided recently to ban him from the race based on corruption charges that he denies. The Supreme Court is set to decide Monday whether he may run on behalf of the opposition Action Congress Party. Some worry the decision could trigger more violence.

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