Lagos , Nigeria ( CNN ) -- Nigeria 's House and Senate approved a resolution Tuesday to install the country 's vice president as head of state until ailing President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua recovers enough to resume his duties . But the Executive Council , made up of government ministers , must still approve the resolution before Vice President Goodluck Jonathan can become acting president . The Executive Council is likely to discuss the matter at a regularly scheduled meeting Wednesday . The absence of Yar'Adua , who left Nigeria for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia in November , has created a power vacuum in Africa 's most populous country , observers have said . It also sparked demonstrations in the nation 's capital , Abuja , where protesters demanded a constitutional order on his absence and evidence about his true state of health . But Nigeria 's Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa insisted Tuesday there has been no power vacuum . `` The main issue is that there must be ways of resolving our progress constitutionally , '' Aondoakaa told CNN 's Christiane Amanpour . `` The system is working because nobody has taken up arms . '' He added , `` What is important now is to move the country forward ... for the three arms of government to come and support the vice president to carry out his duties . '' Aondoakaa 's stance was criticized by a Nobel Prize winner for literature , Wole Soyinka of Nigeria , who accused the attorney general of talking `` from all four compass points of his mouth . ... He 's told so many untruths . '' Soyinka accused the ruling People 's Democratic Party of taking advantage of the president 's absence . `` The issue is that certain elements within the ruling party love this hiatus , they love the headlessness of government because they can proceed to loot and create their own little empires while the president is away , '' he said . Soyinka predicted that the PDP will not give up its current position easily . `` They 're going to find other forms of delaying tactics , and I 'm talking about certain criminal elements within the ruling party , '' he said . `` They are the ones really responsible for this . '' Soyinka added that Nigerians may soon need to embark on a campaign of civil disobedience to stop the PDP , which he described as `` an illegitimate , unelected , corrupt and murderous party . '' A failure to implement measures such as electoral reform -- designed to put the country back on a democratic path -- could foment such a campaign , he said . `` There 's got to be a review , '' he said . `` Failing all this , the citizenry will embark on a civil disobedience campaign . I see no other course for the nation . '' Soyinka said such a campaign would begin on a small scale and escalate until `` so-called legislators '' are made to live up to their responsibilities . `` It 'll mean a de-recognition of the government to start with , flouting the law wherever possible , '' he said . `` We 've demonstrated that the rallies need not be violent as long as civil rights are not trampled on . '' The president is being treated for inflammation of tissue around the heart , a condition that was diagnosed in November after he complained of chest pain in Abuja . He was taken to King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Jeddah , Saudi Arabia , where he had undergone his last checkup in August , his doctor said . Yar'Adua said at the time he did not intend to resign while in Saudi Arabia , but no further news came from the president for almost two months until January 13 , when he gave the BBC an interview from his hospital bed . In a frail voice , Yar'Adua sought to assure his countrymen that he was getting better and intended to return soon to power . Nigeria 's Senate expressed concern `` that there had been no formal communication to the National Assembly '' -- as required by the nation 's constitution -- to `` empower the vice president to act and perform the functions of the president , '' Voice of Nigeria reported . But Aondoakaa , the attorney general , has said the president did not need to write such a letter . In addition to internal discord over its missing president , the oil-rich nation has faced international heat after one of its citizens allegedly attempted to blow up a U.S.-bound jetliner on Christmas Day . U.S. authorities then required passengers on U.S.-bound flights from Nigeria to undergo enhanced security measures . A senior U.S. administration official said Nigeria fell into the U.S. Transportation Security Administration category of `` state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest . '' CNN 's Christian Purefoy contributed to this report .
Nigeria 's president has been in Saudi Arabia for medical care since 2009 . House and Senate vote to make VP acting president ; the president must also OK . VP told reporters last month his health was improving and he planned to go home soon . Nigerian officials had argued over procedure to let VP serve as acting president .