Mr Yar’Adua’s election in 2007 marked the first transfer of power from one civilian president to another since Nigeria’s independence in 1960.
The BBC’s Caroline Duffield, in Jos, central Nigeria, says “President Yar’Adua will be fondly remembered as a quiet and softly-spoken man whose integrity was respected.
But in his last months, it was clear he was too ill to make decisions himself.”