President Umaru Yar'Adua left Nigeria nearly two months ago to seek medical treatment in Saudi Arabia. He has long had a kidney ailment, and doctors have said the 58-year-old is now suffering from acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart.
Judge Dan Abutu is ruling on two of three lawsuits which aim to force the government to allow the vice-president, Goodluck Jonathan, to take over. Yar'Adua left the country without formally appointing an acting leader, as the constitution requires.
The constitution puts the vice-president next in line, but it is unclear if the Muslim-dominated north would allow Yar'Adua, a Muslim, to be replaced with Jonathan, who is a Christian. The Nigerian presidency alternates between Christian and Muslim leaders, and Yar'Adua still has two years left in his term.
Hundreds of Nigerians protested in the capital earlier this month after Yar'Adua said in a radio interview that he hoped to recover and return to power.
"The court is directing the cabinet to convene and pass a resolution to determine whether the president is still fit to run the office," Abutu said, adding that it was not in the court's power to make a final decision on the president.
Michael Aondoakaa, Nigeria's attorney general, said the government would abide by the judgment of the court.
"The executive council of the Federation of Nigeria will be sorting this as directed and will consider a resolution on the state of the president's health," he said.
The suit was filed by Farouk Aliyu, a member of Nigeria's opposition party. Aliyu's lawyer, Bamidele Aturu, said: "We filed this case so that we can save our country from anarchy, from chaos and from constitutional crisis."
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