Nigeria celebrates shift of power, flaws and all

ABUJA, Nigeria - This time, the shots were fired in celebration. For the first time in Nigeria's coup-riddled history of nearly six decades, power passed between two civilians yesterday, and the army was hailing new President Umaru Yar'Adua with a 21-gun salute.

But while many agreed the days of the military's political meddling officially ended with Yar'Adua's inauguration, they also said it did not mean Africa's most populous nation was pointing the way for other countries.

"We have run the longest democratic dispensation and eliminated the risk of violent changes of government through coups and countercoups in our political culture," departing President Olusegun Obasanjo said.

Barred from running again by constitutional term limits, Obasanjo handed the reins of government over to his party's candidate, Yar'Adua.

Yar'Adua won an April vote that international observers deemed not credible.

Many Nigerians say even flawed civilian rule is preferable to government by generals in their nation, which is Africa's biggest producer of oil and a major supplier of crude to the United States.

Charles Dokubo, an analyst at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, said Yar'Adua faced a crisis of legitimacy as he confronted on the country's problems, including violence in the oil heartland that has cut petroleum output by a third.

As home to Africa's biggest oil industry, Nigeria should be a leader on the world's poorest continent. But corruption, mismanagement and poor infrastructure have hobbled the economy and left the vast majority of its 140 million people in poverty.

Yar'Adua, 56, used his inaugural address to say that the delta's unrest needed "urgent attention" and promised to act quickly.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which is the biggest militant group in the delta and previously insisted it would not lay down arms until the government met its demands to improve conditions in the region, said it would study the new president's appeal for dialogue.