Currently serving as president of Sierra Leone is Julius Maada Bio. Since April 4, 2018, he has become the president. He was born in Southern Sierra Leone as the 33rd child of the Paramount Chief of the Sogbini Chiefdom. He is a Sherbo by ethnicity and a devout Catholic. He enrolled in the Military Academy of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces after completing his secondary school at Bo School and graduated from there at the age of 23 as a Second Lieutenant. He was a key figure in a coup that ousted the president at the age of 28, and he later rose to prominence on the Supreme Council of State. He conducted a second coup four years later, ruling the nation for three months before ceding control to a democratically elected government. At the age of 39, he returned to Sierra Leone after leaving his position in the army and traveling to the United States for further education. He formally joined the Sierra Leone People’s Party at the age of 41. (SLLPP). He was nominated as SLPP’s presidential candidate in the 2012 national election. He increased his political efforts after the loss and subsequently won the 2018 presidential election.
Young Adulthood & Childhood
On May 12, 1964, Julius Maada Bio was born in Tahun, a village in the Sogbini Chiefdom, which is not far from Mattru Jong in Sierra Leone’s Southern Province. Charlie Bio II, his father, served as the Sogbini Chiefdom’s paramount chief.
Amina was the name of his mother. Little is known about her other than the fact that she had a firm faith in God and was composed, diligent, and calculative. He later said in an interview that she was the source of most of his values and guiding principles.
Julius was born into a big family of forty-five individuals and was named after his paternal grandfather, who served as the paramount chief of the Sogbini Chiefdom before his father. He was the 33rd of his father’s 35 children, and his mother was one of his father’s nine spouses.
In Tahun, Julius started his schooling at a primary Roman Catholic school. But very soon, he was transferred to Pujehun to live with his older sister Agnes, a primary school teacher. She grew closer to him throughout this time, almost like a mother.
He was accepted to the Holy Family Primary School in Pujehun, where he spent five years studying. After that, he was transported to the Southern Province’s major city, Bo Town, where he attended the boarding school Bo Government Secondary School.
Julius spent seven years as a student at Bo School. In his senior year, he was made a prefect, and in 1984, he earned his A-level. After that, he got a job teaching for one year at a Methodist Secondary School.
He made the decision to go to college in 1985 and submitted an application for admission to Fourah Bay College in Freetown. But soon after, he learned that the army was looking for new students, so he eventually enrolled in the Benguema Military Academy of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces.
Julius’s Military Service
Julius Maada Bio earned a second lieutenant degree from the military college in October 1987. The Lungi Airport was where he was originally assigned. But soon after, he was transferred to the recently established Economic Emergency Unit and assigned to the Kambia District in order to combat the criminal activity that was already developing along the Guinean border.
He was taken back to Lungi by United Nations forces in 1988 so that he could receive aviation security training. He was promoted to platoon leader in Benguema after completing the training.
The First Civil War in Liberia began in 1989, resulting in a huge humanitarian crisis and a mass exodus to Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone was supposed to provide troops to the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), which was established in 1990 by West African governments.
Bio was first published in Gendema, which is near the border. They quickly learned that Charles Taylor, the leader of the Liberian rebels, intended to invade Sierra Leone.
Despite sending the news to Freetown, nothing happened. Soon after, Bio was sent to Liberia as a gift from his nation.
The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) led by Charles Taylor invaded Sierra Leone in March 1991 and took control of the border regions. Bio and a select group of his coworkers received orders to go back home and enlist in the Kailahun District’s newly organized Gladio battalion.
Gladio was a hastily assembled group of 600 men. Most of them received substandard pay and inadequate training. Additionally, they received poor nutrition, and their Second World War weapons tended not to fire very often. Consequently, two-thirds of the men fled as the rebels launched an attack.
Before being moved to Segbwema, Bio spent four weeks with Gladio. Prince Benjamin Hirsch, an old friend, served as the commanding commander here. They were both extremely resentful of the current situation and frequently discussed reforming the system. Many other cops shared his sentiments.
The Coup of 1992 and Later
Captain Valentine Strasser, another young officer, paid Bio and Hirsch a visit as they discussed revamping the system. In the end, they devised a plan for the coup, which was to occur on the evening of April 29, 1992.
Bio remained in Segbwema as Strasser relocated to Freetown where he organized f40 hardline warriors. He traveled to Freetown that evening, April 29, together with Lieutenants Sahr Sandy, Solomon Musa, Tom Nyuma, and Captain Komba Monde.
While President Joseph Saidu Momoh escaped to Guinea, where he lived out the rest of his days as a guest of that nation’s government, the military quickly took control of the State House. After the formation of the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC), Strasser was appointed the country’s head of state.
After the coup, Julius Maada Bio, a Second Lieutenant up to that point, was elevated to Captain. He also rose to prominence in the Supreme Council of State and was briefly stationed in Bo Town while also serving as Secretary of State South.
He may have returned to Freetown in 1993 to serve as the Secretary of State in charge of Information and Broadcasting. Bio played a key role in getting Captain S.A.J. Musa exiled later that year when he planned some extrajudicial killings as Strasser’s deputy at the time.
Bio received a promotion to the rank of Brigadier, and was appointed Chief Secretary of State and Deputy Chairman of the NPRC when Musa was exiled. He gradually gained importance, while Strasser started to fade into the background.
The three objectives of the new regime were to put a stop to the war, rebuild the economy, and enact democracy. Initiated at this time were peace negotiations, road building, the restoration of electricity, and most significantly, the easing of access to rice and gasoline. In 1996, a multiparty election was also anticipated.
A disagreement between Strasser and Bio on whether to first bring about peace before holding the election or the opposite occurred in late 1995 or early 1996. Bio overthrew Strasser in a bloodless coup on January 16, 1996, and flew him into neighboring Guinea in a military chopper.
Julius Maada Bio made his first public broadcast after the coup, in which he reaffirmed his commitment to bringing about both democracy and peace in the nation. After three months of rule, he ceded control to Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, who had been elected president, on March 29, 1996.
Maada’s Electoral Life
Julius Maada Bio left the army in 1996 and relocated to the USA, where he remained until 2003. He finished his schooling here and graduated from American University in Washington, DC, with a master’s degree in international affairs. He was granted refuge in the USA in 1999.
He worked for a number of companies in the USA, including International Systems Science Corporation, where he was President. On April 17, 2003, when he returned to Sierra Leone, he established a number of businesses, including a neighborhood diamond valuation company.
He officially joined the Sierra Leone People’s Party in 2005. (SLPP). He competed for Party President in September and finished third, behind lawyer-turned-politician Charles Margai and Vice President Solomon Berewa.
He re-ran for the position in 2007, but he was unsuccessful. He started the chocolate and coffee-producing company Tropical Farms Ltd. in 2008 while simultaneously expanding his business.
He again sought the SLPP’s presidential candidacy in 2011, and he prevailed in the vote that was cast on the evening of July 31. As a result, he was nominated to run for president in the 2012 presidential election by his party.
Bio received 37% of the vote in the national election of 2012 but came in second to President Ernest Bai Koroma of the governing All People’s Congress (APC). Despite losing, the SLPP emerged as the only strong opposition force. From this point forward, Bio started to get more politically engaged.
In order to provide financial aid for underprivileged children’s education, Bio established the “Maada and Fatima Bio Foundation” in 2014. In addition, they provide health care, business development, agricultural development, and skill training programs.
Bio was meant to visit the United States in 2015, but admittance was refused. This led to rumors that he had broken the law while residing there, which he vehemently refutes.
Bio continued his study and actively engaged in politics at the prestigious University of Bradford in the UK, where he is currently completing a Ph.D. in Peace Study. He also authored a lot of essays on world politics during this time in prestigious publications including The Guardian and Huffington Post.
Sierra Leone’s leader
In 2018, the SLPP once more put forward Bio as a candidate for the presidency of the nation. He attacked the corruption of the current government throughout the election campaign and pledged to investigate mining concession contracts if elected.
Additionally, he pledged to offer free basic and secondary education. In addition, he denounced Chinese infrastructure projects as a fraud that offered no economic advantages to his countrymen and charged the APC government with attempting to intimidate members of his party.
On March 7, 2018, the general election’s first round was held. A second round of voting between two top contenders, Maada Bio and Samura Kamara of the APC, was held on March 31 because none of the sixteen presidential candidates received the required 55% of the vote.
By 51.8% of the vote, Maada Bio was victorious. Even though Kamara contested the results, Bio was sworn in as Sierra Leone’s president on April 4, 2018, just two hours after they were announced.
Personal Legacy & Life
Julius Maada Bio wed Francess Bio while he was a student in the United States. Ivan Bio, Agnes Bio, and Charlie Bio were their three children. There is no other information regarding this union.
He may have wed Fatima Jabbi, a well-known Gambian actress, in 2013 at a private wedding in London. They welcomed a girl into the world in 2015. Amina Maada Bio is the name given to her.
Estimated Net Worth
One of the wealthiest and most well-liked politicians is Julius. Our investigation of Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider revealed Julius Maada Bio’s $5 Million net worth.
Trivia
There was a commotion in Sierra Leone as word of Bio’s marriage to Fatima came out. He was charged with bigamy, which he vehemently denied, claiming that he had divorced his first spouse before getting remarried.