Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been sworn in as the fifth president of Ghana under the Fourth Republic on Saturday January 7, 2017.

Akufo-Addo was sworn in by Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood after he took the presidential oath and the oath of secrecy before parliament.

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Several dignitaries and foreign diplomats graced the occasion, which saw the president of Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara, as the special guest of honour.

The presidents of Zambia, Equatorial Guinea, and Kenya, Egdar Lungu, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and Uhuru Kenyatta, respectively were present.

Other prominent persons who graced the occasion were Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, Indonesia’s Joko Widodo, Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

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Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of Mali and a representative each from Mauritius and the USA. Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote was also present.

Members of parliament, opposition political party leaders, the clergy, traditional rulers and a section of Ghanaians clad in white and NPP apparel witnessed the ceremony.

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Akufo-Addo beat ex-president John Mahama and five other candidates in the December 7 election by securing 53.85 per cent of valid votes cast to win the contest for the presidency.