Nigeria leader signature 'forged'

Abuja, 08 Jan-(ANA)-Allies of Nigeria's ailing president forged his signature on the country's supplementary budget last month, opposition politicians have alleged.

They have written to the police asking them to investigate the forgery claims.

The government said President Umaru Yar'Adua signed the budget despite being treated for a heart condition in Saudi Arabia.

Mr Yar'Adua has been away for six weeks, fuelling fears of a power vacuum in Africa's most populous nation.

Doctors say he is suffering from acute pericarditis - inflammation of the lining of the heart. He also has a long-standing kidney complaint.

In a bid to dispel fevered speculation over Mr Yar'Adua's health, ministers have insisted the president is recovering from treatment.

Information Minister Dora Akunyili said the president had spoken to his colleagues over the telephone on Tuesday.

Several court cases have been launched demanding that power be officially handed to the vice-president.

And one group of activists has even suggested the president should be declared a missing person, and a search party should be sent out.

In the latest move, an umbrella group for the main opposition parties known as the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has demanded that the police investigate the alleged forgery.

The group's lawyer, opposition official Femi Falana, said in the letter that the CNPP had tried to verify claims by the government that the budget had been taken to Saudi Arabia for the president to sign on his sick bed. (ANA)

FA/ANA/08 January 2010----