Nigeria's Acting President Goodluck Jonathan sworn in as leader of Africa's most populous nation after the death of former President Umaru Yar'Adua, according to the terms of the constitution. Here are some facts about Jonathan. * Goodluck Jonathan was born on November 20, 1957 in the Niger Delta to a family of canoe makers. He studied zoology and worked as an education inspector, lecturer and environmental protection officer before going into politics in 1998. * He won election in 1999 as deputy governor of Bayelsa, one of three main states in the Niger Delta, as a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He became state governor in 2005 after his boss was impeached. * He was nominated by the PDP as Yar'Adua's running mate in April 2007 presidential elections. The polls were condemned by international observers amid widespread allegations of ballot-stuffing and intimidation, predominantly by the PDP. Jonathan was sworn in as vice president a month later. * Jonathan took over as Acting President in February during the prolonged absence of Yar'Adua, who was receiving medical treatment in Saudi Arabia. Jonathan has since appointed a new cabinet and his own team of advisers. Late Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua: Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua died late on Wednesday aged 58 after a long battle with kidney and heart ailments. Here are some facts about Yar'Adua: * ILLNESS: * Yar'Adua had a serious kidney complaint in 2000, and tried to dismiss rumours of continued ill health ahead of his election in 2007 by challenging his critics to a game of squash. * In August 2008 Yar'Adua travelled to Saudi Arabia for the Muslim pilgrimage, but a source in the presidency said he received medical treatment. * In November 2009 he again went to Saudi Arabia, where he was being treated for acute pericarditis, his spokesman said. He returned to Nigerian in February but never fully recovered from the ailment and did not make another public appearance. * ROAD TO THE PRESIDENCY: - Few Nigerians would have predicted Yar'Adua, governor of the remote northern Katsina State, would become president before his nomination by the ruling party for the 2007 election. - He was plucked from obscurity by then President Olusegun Obasanjo, who ensured that he won the ticket of the People's Democratic Party (PDP). * AS PRESIDENT: - Legal wrangling over the vote undermined his first year as president, contributing to a stagnation in government decision-making and unnerving foreign investors. - Despite complaints from the opposition, many Nigerians accepted the flawed poll as the price to be paid for the first handover from one civilian president to another since Africa's most populous country gained independence in 1960. - Yar'Adua was dubbed "Baba go slow" by detractors for the slow pace of action, including on his promise to ramp up power generation in a country hit by chronic blackouts. - But a notable achievement was an amnesty with militants in the oil-producing Niger Delta, where years of sabotage had slashed output. - His appointment of Lamido Sanusi as central bank governor also led to a bailout of nine weakly capitalised banks and unprecedented efforts to put the sector on a sounder footing. * LIFE DETAILS: - Yar'Adua, born in the northern city of Katsina on Aug. 16 1951, was a devout Muslim. - He came from a distinguished political family. His father was a minister in the first post-independence cabinet and his elder brother was number two in Obasanjo's military government from 1976 to 1979. - A chemist by training, he was educated at the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria from 1972-1975. He studied there for an MSc from 1978-1980. - He began his professional life as a chemistry teacher before going into business in the 1980s starting as the general manager of Sambo Farms Ltd in Katsina State. - After the death of late dictator Sani Abacha in 1998, he founded the K34 political association which laid the groundwork for the ruling PDP. - He was elected Katsina state governor in 1999 and re-elected in 2003. - Yar'Adua was married in 1975 and had seven children.
