Nigeria's acting leader Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in Thursday as president of Africa's most populous country, as the body of his predecessor was flown north for a traditional Muslim burial hours after he died following a lengthy illness. Jonathan put on a sash bearing the green, yellow and white colors of Nigeria, signifying he had formally taken over for President Umaru Yar'Adua though Jonathan had served as acting president for months. Late Thursday morning, soldiers escorted a stretcher bearing the body of Yar'Adua, wrapped in a Nigerian flag, onto a military cargo plane bound for his native Katsina state. Yar'Adua, who long had suffered from kidney ailments and was recently hospitalized in Saudi Arabia because of heart inflammation, died Wednesday night after apparently succumbing to his ill health. Officials said he would be buried before sundown Thursday. King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and Crown Prince Sultan, Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, sent Thursday messages of condolence to Nigeria and interim president Goodluck Jonathan for the death of President Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.
