Nigeria - Goodluck Jonathan 'not spoken to Yar'Adua'

Nigeria's Acting President Goodluck Jonathan has told the BBC he has not seen or had "substantial contact" with the ill president in about five months.

Umaru Yar'Adua went to Saudi Arabia for treatment in November and despite returning home in February has not been seen since then.

Mr Jonathan gave no indication whether the president's condition had improved.

He said he had not seen the president's doctor but said he had spoken to his wife three times.

"I've not seen the doctor. I have had - on about three occasions - discussions with his wife and I've had discussions with some of the other aides," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

"The last time we [Mr Jonathan and Mr Yar'Adua] had sustained discussions was 26 November," he said.

Mr Yar'Adua was flown to hospital in Saudi Arabia three days earlier, on 23 November.

In his interview, he also touched on clashes in Jos, where tensions between Muslims and Christians since the start of the year have left many dead.

Mr Jonathan said the violence was ethnic, rather than religious and he promised to persecute those behind text messages inciting the situation.