Nigeria leader Goodluck Jonathan dissolves cabinet

Amid the continuing uncertainty over Mr Yar'Adua, it was announced on Tuesday that next year's presidential election could be brought forward by three months.

Mr Yar'Adua's term of office expires in May 2011 but he is not expected to stand again.

The ruling People's Democratic Party, to which both Mr Yar'Adua and Mr Jonathan belong, has a policy of alternating between Muslim and Christian presidential candidates, allowing each to serve two four-year terms.

Mr Yar'Adua, a Muslim, was elected in 2007 after Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian, had ruled for eight years.

The People's Democratic Party this month confirmed that a Muslim would be the candidate next year to continue this policy, ruling out Mr Jonathan, a Christian.

Nigeria's Nobel Prize-winning writer, Wole Soyinka, a long-time critic of the state of politics in Nigeria, said Goodluck Jonathan's decision to dissolve the cabinet was long overdue.

"I think he's been as delicate as anybody who's in charge of country like Nigeria can be," he told BBC World Service.

"In fact, I think he's erred on the over-cautious side. This should have happened a very long time ago."

"He has to compel those who have been behind this macabre charade to come out in the open," Mr Soyinka added.