Nigeria's ruling party will hold key talks after Acting President Goodluck Jonathan in a shock move sacked a government he inherited from the country's ailing head of state, officials said Friday.

The People Democratic Party's highest decision-making organ, the national executive council, was expected to meet next week after the last quarterly talks in December, sources said.

Asked whether the meeting was set to discuss the startling dissolution of the government by Jonathan this week, party spokesman Rufai Alkali told AFP : "The party is working hand-in-hand with the office of the acting president.

"We have to provide the support to ensure he succeeds. There is always close consultation between the party and the government."

Alkali did not confirm speculation that the meeting would be held next Thursday, saying: "When we have finalised the arrangements we will let the world know."

Jonathan, in bid to assert his authority since he took over the reins five weeks ago, wants a pro-reform cabinet after months of virtual governmental paralysis critics blame on President Umaru Yar'Adua's protracted ill health.

Yar'Adua was stricken by a heart condition last November and left for treatment in Saudi Arabia, leaving Africa's most populous nation and one of the world's biggest oil exporters without effective leadership.

Ruling party backing

The ruling party said it fully backed Jonathan's dissolution of the predominantly PDP cabinet.

"We are satisfied, we are very, very satisfied with the dissolution," PDP national chairman Vincent Ogbulafor said after a team of party senior leadership met Jonathan Thursday night.

Alkali said the sacking of the government "did not come as a surprise to us because under normal circumstances the FEC (Federal Executive Council or cabinet) is supposed to work in unity of purpose.

But "when you have cracks in the government, he (the acting president) has the power to constitute a cabinet that will assist to achieve the overall objectives of government," he added.

Jonathan's decision to dissolve the cabinet gives him an opportunity to appoint his own team and thus strengthen his authority.

The planned talks were to include the powerful state governors and the party's board of trustees, chaired by the former president Olusegun Obasanjo.

Obasanjo, accused of handpicking Yar'Adua as his successor, recently suggested that the president should step down from office.

Under the Nigerian laws, the president appoints at least one minister from each of the 36 states of the federation, and the influential governors play a key role in nominating the candidates.

Presidential sources say Jonathan, who enjoys the backing of the senate which has the final say on who makes it into the cabinet, was eyeing a full line up by next week.

But experts and diplomats said it was unlikely a new government would be in place by then, arguing it would take at least two weeks in the best case scenario.

'Reform-minded' cabinet

But some observers say that despite his desire for a reform minded cabinet to tackle a mounting set of crises, including a new bout of sectarian slaughter, violence in the oil-rich Niger Delta and a diplomatic row with Libya, he may not have much of a free hand in the nominations.

"But there is a chance he might capitalise on the fact that the party is divided and have some governors on his side," a foreign diplomat said.

"It's is fairly clear that Jonathan does not control the party but what is clear is that the party is divided and rather weak," added the diplomat.

- AFP