Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua: Dead at 58

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajioon.

From the BBC (includes video of the funeral procession):

“Mr Yar'Adua died late on Wednesday in the capital Abuja.

Thousands attended the funeral in his home town of Katsina. Nigeria has declared seven days mourning.
Mr Yar'Adua, who was 58, was buried in a Muslim ceremony in Katsina state.

Businesses and shops closed down as a sign of respect.

Soldiers and police officers accompanied his body on the flight to Katsina in the country's Muslim north.
There, mourners carried his body on their shoulders on a bamboo stretcher into a football stadium for a service.

Among chants of “God is great”, the body – in a simple coffin – was buried at a cemetery near his home.
Mourners carried Yar'Adua's body, covered by Nigeria's green and white flag, on a bamboo stretcher to the open field for prayers and then burial at a nearby cemetery.”

And:

Mr Yar'Adua's election in 2007 marked the first transfer of power from one civilian president to another since Nigeria's independence in 1960.

He came to power promising a long list of reforms, including tackling corruption and reforming the inadequate power sector and the flawed electoral system.

He made progress in banking reforms, but analysts say he made the most progress of his tenure in tackling unrest in the oil-rich Niger Delta, by offering an amnesty to rebels.

The BBC's Caroline Duffield, in Jos, central Nigeria, says President Yar'Adua will be fondly remembered as a quiet and softly-spoken man whose integrity was respected.

But in his last months, it was clear he was too ill to take decisions himself.

CNN: Nigerian President Yar'Adua has Died

CBS News: Nigeria President Yar'Adua Dies After Long Illness