President Umaru Yar'Adua has been absent from Nigeria for weeks
Nigeria's president, not seen in public since going into hospital in Saudi Arabia for heart treatment in November, has told the BBC he is recovering.

In his first interview since then, by telephone, Umaru Yar'Adua, 58, said he hoped to make "tremendous progress" and return home to resume his duties.

His long absence and speculation over his health have led to calls for him to hand over power to his vice-president.

A protest in the capital, Abuja, has urged an end to the political limbo.

The opposition has been demanding details of Mr Yar'Adua's health amid swirling rumours that he was critically ill - or even dead - and unable to return to power.

His adviser Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi told the BBC the president's enemies were behind the rumours.

Doctors said in December that President Yar'Adua was suffering from acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the lining of the heart. He is also known to have kidney problems.

Constitutional worries

Speaking to the BBC in a three-minute telephone interview organised by the president's office, Mr Yar'Adua said he was making a good recovery.

"At the moment I am undergoing treatment, and I'm getting better from the treatment. I hope that very soon there will be tremendous progress, which will allow me to get back home," he told Mansur Liman from the BBC Hausa service, speaking in both Hausa and English.

BBC Hausa has a large audience in northern Nigeria, where Hausa is the main language.

He gave no indication of when he might return to Nigeria.

"I wish, at this stage, to thank all Nigerians for their prayers for my good health, and for their prayers for the nation."

He also wished the Nigerian national football team success in the Africa Cup of Nations currently under way in Angola.

The BBC's correspondent in Nigeria's capital said the president's voice had sounded weak.

President Yar'Adua's silence until now and the fact he did not appoint Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan to serve in his absence have led to fears of a constitutional crisis.

There is a perceived danger of a power vacuum in a country that only saw the end of military rule just over 10 years ago, the BBC's Will Ross reports from the capital, Abuja.

There have also been complaints that important government business has been left hanging in the president's absence.

'Enough Is Enough'

The interview with President Yar'Adua was recorded late on Monday and first broadcast at 0530 GMT on Tuesday. It has been widely rebroadcast by Nigerian TV and radio stations.


Nigeria's great rumour mill
Many Nigerians will be relieved to hear the president's voice, says our correspondent, but the calls to hand over power to the vice-president will continue.

There are three different court cases under way calling for power to be transferred to Mr Jonathan, including one from the National Bar Association.

Several hundred people have marched through the streets of Abuja to the national assembly to press for the demand.

The national assembly was due to discuss the president's health on Tuesday as it reconvenes after the Christmas and New Year break.

Dozens of police, including riot police, were deployed ahead of the rally.

Prominent opposition politicians and lawyers, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka and the Biafran secessionist leader, Chief Emeka Ojukwu, were planning to be among the demonstrators.