Nigerian president signs spending bill from Saudi hospital treating him for heart condition

Nigeria president signs budget from Saudi hospital

ABUJA, Nigeria — A Nigerian official says President Umaru Yar’Adua has signed a government bill for the first time since entering a Saudi Arabia hospital last month for a serious heart condition.

Presidential spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi says an official flew the paperwork for the $2.53 billion spending bill to the Jeddah hospital where Yar’Adua was admitted on Nov. 24. Adeniyi says Yar’Adua signed the bill himself Tuesday.

Officials have said the 58-year-old Yar’Adua suffers from acute pericarditis, a heart inflammation that can be fatal. As his absence has stretched into weeks, some prominent Nigerians have asked him to step down from office. Yar’Adua also did not formally appoint an acting leader before he left, as the constitution requires.