The crowd gathered to witness Shafie’s swearing in at Istana Negeri in Kota Kinabalu May 12, 2018. — Picture courtesy of Sabah Information Department

KOTA KINABALU, May 12 — Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal has been sworn in as the 15th Chief Minister of Sabah tonight.

He took his oath of office before the Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin at Istana Negeri at 9.15pm, setting in motion a constitutional crisis in Sabah as Tan Sri Musa Aman has refused to resign after he was sworn in as chief minister on Thursday.

Shafie’s motorcade, escorted by police outriders, left his residence at about 7.58pm, and arrived at Istana Negeri at about 8.16pm. The ceremony was over an hour later.

Earlier on, a Facebook Live video by Batu Sapi MP Datuk Liew Vui Keong showed him, along with other elected Warisan representatives, at Istana Negeri getting ready to be sworn in.

Musa, however, has been adamant he is not resigning, releasing a statement at 6.55pm to refute claims that he had resigned.

“Let me put it on record that neither I nor my members of Cabinet have resigned. In fact, I just chaired the first State Cabinet meeting after the just concluded general election,” he said.

From photos, Sabah police commissioner Datuk Ramli Din and former state assembly speaker Datuk Syed Abas Syed Ali were also present.

At Padang Merdeka, just a 1km away, a crowd of Warisan supporters gathered to show their support for Shafie.

At about 10pm, however, photos surfaced on Facebook purportedly of Musa’s belongings being moved out of Sri Gaya, the chief minister’s official residence.