ABUJA – The chief of Nigeria's army on Tuesday pledged his commitment to protecting democracy and promised to stay out of politics at a time when President Umaru Yar'Adua's two-month absence has raised questions about who is in charge. Lieutenant General Abdul Rahman Dambazau, chief of army staff, said the army had remained "neutral but absolutely committed to the survival of our nascent democracy" and would continue to do so despite attempts to drag it into politics. Yar'Adua has been in Saudi Arabia receiving treatment for a heart condition since late November but has not formally handed executive powers to his deputy, raising uncertainty about who is steering government in Africa's most populous nation. The Nigerian cabinet has been ordered by the federal court to decide within 14 days if ill President Umaru Yar'Adua is fit to lead the country. The court ruling directed the cabinet to pass a resolution about whether he "is incapable of discharging the functions of his office". The president's absence has raised concerns about a power vacuum. The Federal High Court ruled that cabinet should hear testimony from five doctors, one of whom should be the president's personal physician. If cabinet decides that the president is not fit to carry out his duties, the vice-president would take over, the court ruled. The court was responding to a law suit brought by opposition activist Farouk Adamu Aliyu. He had asked for the judges to sack the president over his failing health and for failing to abide by the provisions of the constitution. Meanwhile, Nigerian police said yesterday at least 326 people died in Muslim-Christian clashes last week in the central Plateau State. "From the figures available to the police ... 326 people were killed in the recent violence," police spokesman Mohamed Lerama told reporters. However, other estimates from medical and aid workers and religious and community leaders put the toll at more than 550. The killings erupted in Jos on January 17 and spread to nearby towns and villages in the following days. Christian resistance to the building of a mosque in a predominantly Christian neighbourhood sparked the violence. "The clashes had no religious basis but rather an affray hijacked in the name of religion by demons with a human face," said Lerama.
