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Updated Thursday, March 18, 2010 2:05 pm TWN, By BASHIR ADIGUN and JON GAMBRELL, AP

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Nigeria's acting president dissolves Cabinet

Jonathan had largely shied away from making major decisions since becoming acting president, though he did move some Cabinet ministers loyal to Yar'Adua into new positions. While fears of a coup permeated the country, which has a long history of military dictators, top officials in the armed forces promised not to intervene and restricted troop movements.

Those forces likely will be kept at bay, even with Jonathan asserting more power, said analyst Charles Dokubo of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs.

"I think the Nigerian people have been so quiet and have been allowing things to unfold in an evolutionary manner," Dokubo told The Associated Press. Yar'Adua supporters "might make noise about it, but I don't think it will lead to any other upheaval or anarchy in the country."

Still, Jonathan remains largely unknown in Nigeria, a former deputy state governor who rose to the governor's office after his predecessor was indicted on corruption charges. Now, as Yar'Adua remains ill and unseen, Jonathan finds himself at the helm as the West African country faces endemic corruption, simmering militancy in the oil-rich Niger Delta and long-running religious tensions that have led to hundreds of deaths in recent months.

But as the nation's ruling political party already has said it wants a Muslim from the north as a presidential candidate in 2011, it gives Jonathan only a year's time to try and fix the many problems facing the country.

Any selections Jonathan offers for the Cabinet must be vetted and approved by the Nigerian Senate. However, laws require all the nation's 36 states be represented on the executive body — a means to provide unity in Nigeria.

Nuhu Yaqub, a Muslim analyst and a former vice chancellor at the University of Abuja, said he and others would hold their judgment until Jonathan proposes his new Cabinet.

"Everybody, particularly the political elite, will be eyes wide open to see who comes in, who goes out," Yaqub said.

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