The

inauguration In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inaugu ...

Umaru Musa Yar'Adua Umaru Musa Yar'Adua (16 August 19515 May 2010) was a Nigerian politician who, was the President of Nigeria from 2007 to 2010. He was declared the winner of the Nigerian presidential election held on 21 April 2007, and was sworn in on 29 May 20 ...

as the 13th

president of Nigeria The president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the head of state and head of government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the Niger ...

, and 2nd in the fourth republic was held on Tuesday, 29 May 2007, marking the commencement of Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's and

Goodluck Jonathan Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to fo ...

's only term as president and

vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

. It was the 5th presidential inauguration in Nigeria, the 3rd in the fourth republic and the first successful transition of power, from one democratically elected leader to another in Nigeria. Yar'Adua

died Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

into this term, and Jonathan succeeded to the presidency. Yar'Adua was sworn in after winning the controversial

2007 Nigerian presidential election General elections were held in Nigeria on 21 April 2007 to elect the President and National Assembly.Ola Awoniyi"Nigeria sets date for elections", ''Mail & Guardian''. 29 August 2006. Governorship and State Assembly elections had been held on 14 ...

, an election which was widely described as fraudulent.

Swearing-in-Ceremony

The official

swearing-in Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to giv ...

ceremony took place at Eagle Square in Abuja, the

Federal Capital Territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

. Chief Justice

Idris Legbo Kutigi Idris Legbo Kutigi (31 December 1939 – 21 October 2018) was a Nigerian lawyer and jurist. He was Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Niger State before becoming a high court judge. He joined the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1992 a ...

administered the oath of office taken by President Yar'Adua and Vice President Goodluck Jonathan.

Attendance

Former Nigerian heads of state General

Yakubu Gowon Yakubu Dan-Yumma 'Jack' Gowon (born 19 October 1934) is a retired Nigerian Army general and military leader. As Head of State of Nigeria, Gowon presided over a controversial Nigerian Civil War and delivered the famous "no victor, no vanquish ...

, President

Shehu Shagari Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari (25 February 1925 – 28 December 2018), titled Turakin Sokoto from 1962, was the first democratically elected President of Nigeria, after the transfer of power by military head of state General Olusegun Obasanjo in ...

, General

Ibrahim Babangida Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (born 17 August, 1941) is a retired Nigerian Army general and politician. He served as military president of Nigeria from 1985 until his resignation in 1993. He rose through the ranks to serve from 1984 to 1985 as Ch ...

, Interim President

Ernest Shonekan Chief Ernest Adegunle Oladeinde Shonekan (9 May 1936 – 11 January 2022) was a Nigerian lawyer and statesman who served as the interim Head of State of Nigeria from 26 August 1993 to 17 November 1993. He was titled Abese of Egbaland from ...

and General

Abdulsalami Abubakar Abdulsalami Abubakar (; born 13 June 1942) is a Nigerian statesman and retired Nigerian Army general who served as the ''de facto'' President of Nigeria from 1998 to 1999. He was also Chief of Defence Staff between 1997 and 1998. He succeede ...

were in attendance. Former military head of state, General

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015. Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 Au ...

who was the ANPP candidate in the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

was absent from the ceremony, after he had challenged the result. The ceremony was attended by many world and African leaders and dignataries, many Nigerians purposely avoided it.

References

Presidential inaugurations Politics of Nigeria {{improve categories, date=May 2023

Swearing-in-Ceremony

Attendance

See also

References