The Nigerian cabinet has been ordered by the federal court to decide within 14 days if ill President Umaru Yar'Adua is fit to lead the country.

尼日利亚联邦法院下令内阁在14天之内就总统亚拉杜瓦能否继续领导国家进行评估。

President Umaru Yar'Adua has been absent from Nigeria for weeks

The president has been in Saudi Arabia for two months, receiving treatment for a heart condition.

The court ruling directed the cabinet to pass a resolution决议 about whether he "is incapable¹ of discharging the functions of his office".

The president's absence has raised concerns about a power vacuum真空.

The Federal High Court ruled that cabinet should hear testimony证词，证据 from five doctors, one of whom should be the president's personal physician.

If cabinet decides that the president is not fit to carry out实行，执行 his duties, the vice-president would take over, the court ruled.

The court was responding to a law suit brought by opposition³ activist⁴ Farouk Adamu Aliyu.

He had asked for the judges to sack解雇 the president over his failing health and for failing to abide⁵ by遵守，信守 the provisions预备，食品 of the constitution.

His lawyer Bamidele Aturu told the BBC that the judgement was a "victory for democracy".

On Thursday, Mr Yar'Adua's predecessor前任，前辈 Olusegun Obasanjo urged the president to step down if he is not fit to continue.

"If you take up a job, elected... and then your health starts to fail you and you will not able to deliver, to satisfy yourself and satisfy the people you are supposed to serve, then there is a path of honour and path of morality," he said in his first comments on Mr Yar'Adua's health.

He denied that he had been irresponsible when choosing his successor, AFP news agency reports.

"To say that I, Olusegun Obasanjo, deliberately⁷故意地，谨慎地 picked somebody who is an invalid⁸, is the height of insult," he said.

Mr Obasanjo handpicked仔细挑选 Mr Yar'Adua to succeed him but the pair have since fallen out.