Thousands of Nigerians marched to the gates of the presidential villa today to demand an end to the presidency of ailing leader Umaru Yar'Adua so Acting President Goodluck Jonathan can take over as head of state.

A few thousand people, many wearing T-shirts with "Save Nigeria Group" on the front and "Enough is Enough" on the back, marched to within a few hundred metres of the presidential villa under the watch of unarmed police officers lining the streets.

"We want the invisible president to be revoked. We are tired of a president we can't see, who can't govern. We want to see him," Babatunde Ogala, a politician from the commercial capital Lagos and one of the protest organisers, told the rally. "If we can't see him we want someone else who is allowed to govern. Why is a cabal controlling our country," he said.

The 58-year-old leader has not been seen in public since he left for treatment in Saudi Arabia at the end of November. He was flown back to Nigeria two weeks ago but remains too frail to govern. Presidency sources say he is still in intensive care.

source: Reuters