{"id":"julius-maada-bio","type":"person","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/julius-maada-bio","language":"en","name":"Julius Maada Bio","name_en":"Julius Maada Bio","name_ne":null,"description":"President of Sierra Leone since 2018","headline":"President of Sierra Leone since 2018","also_known_as":[],"summary":"Julius Maada Wonie Bio (born 12 May 1964) is a Sierra Leonean politician and former military officer who has served as the 5th president of Sierra Leone since 4 April 2018. He is a retired brigadier in the Sierra Leone Army and was the military head of state of Sierra Leone from 16 January 1996 to 29 March 1996, at only 32 years old in a military junta government known as the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC).","summary_more":["As military head of state, Bio returned Sierra Leone to a democratically elected government, when he handed power to Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of the Sierra Leone People's Party, following Kabbah's victory in the 1996 Sierra Leonean presidential election. Upon retiring from the military in 1996, Bio moved to the United States, where he was granted political asylum, and he did not visit Sierra Leone from the U.S. until 2005.","Bio ran as the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) presidential candidate in the 2012 presidential election, but lost to incumbent President Ernest Bai Koroma. He ran again in 2018, defeating Samura Kamara of the ruling All People's Congress (APC).","As president, Bio has overturned most of the policies of Koroma, whom he accuses of corruption and mismanagement of the country's treasury. A deadly coup attempt to overthrow Bio failed in September 2023. Former president Koroma was detained and charged with treason as he was accused of being involved in the failed coup attempt.","Bio's government's handling of the economy was the target of a violent protest in August 2022. Bio was nevertheless re-elected the following year, though the elections were marred by violence and raised concern from international observers due to a lack of transparency in the counting process. As president, Bio has implemented free primary and secondary school public education and repealed the death penalty."],"facts":[{"key":"born","label":"Born","values":[{"text":"12 May 1964","date":"1964-05-12"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q283829#P569"}},{"key":"birthplace","label":"Place of birth","values":[{"text":"Tihun","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7801783"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q283829#P19"}},{"key":"citizenship","label":"Citizenship","values":[{"text":"Sierra Leone","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1044"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q283829#P27"}},{"key":"occupation","label":"Occupation","values":[{"text":"politician","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q82955"},{"text":"military officer","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q189290"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q283829#P106"}},{"key":"party","label":"Political party","values":[{"text":"Sierra Leone People's Party","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2033938"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q283829#P102"}},{"key":"education","label":"Education","values":[{"text":"American University","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q168000"},{"text":"Bo School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4931166"},{"text":"University of Bradford","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q954035","end":"2016"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q283829#P69"}},{"key":"spouse","label":"Spouse","values":[{"text":"Fatima Maada Bio","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q55081550","start":"2013"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q283829#P26"}},{"key":"positions","label":"Positions held","values":[{"text":"Chairperson of ECOWAS (since 22 June 2025 · BS 7 Asar 2082 onwards)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q137757782","start":"2025-06-22"},{"text":"President of Sierra Leone (since 4 April 2018)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q890010","start":"2018-04-04"},{"text":"Chief of the Defence Staff (Sierra Leone) (1995–1996)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q55607332","start":"1995-03","end":"1996-01"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q283829#P39"}},{"key":"x","label":"X (Twitter)","values":[{"text":"PresidentBio","url":"https://x.com/PresidentBio"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q283829#P2002"}}],"office":null,"sections":[],"cited":[],"cited_from":null,"videos":[],"last_reviewed":null,"organizations":[],"same_as":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Maada_Bio","https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q283829","https://x.com/PresidentBio"],"faq":[{"q":"When was Julius Maada Bio born?","a":"Julius Maada Bio was born on 12 May 1964 in Tihun."},{"q":"What positions has Julius Maada Bio held?","a":"Positions held by Julius Maada Bio include: Chairperson of ECOWAS (since 22 June 2025); President of Sierra Leone (since 4 April 2018); Chief of the Defence Staff (Sierra Leone) (1995–1996)."},{"q":"Where did Julius Maada Bio study?","a":"Julius Maada Bio was educated at American University, Bo School, University of Bradford."}],"related":[{"name":"Siaka Stevens","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/siaka-stevens"},{"name":"Mathieu Kérékou","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/mathieu-kerekou"},{"name":"John Mahama","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/john-mahama"},{"name":"Ahmed Sékou Touré","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/ahmed-sekou-toure"},{"name":"Jerry Rawlings","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/jerry-rawlings"},{"name":"John Kufuor","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/john-kufuor"},{"name":"Ahmad Tejan Kabbah","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/ahmad-tejan-kabbah"},{"name":"Valentine Strasser","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/valentine-strasser"},{"name":"Joseph Saidu Momoh","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/joseph-saidu-momoh"},{"name":"Yahya Kanu","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/yahya-kanu"},{"name":"David Lansana","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/david-lansana"}],"places_in":[],"nearby":[],"image":{"url":"https://diginpl.com/kb-img/julius-maada-bio-8ea8e2000d.jpg","width":500,"height":750,"license":"CC BY 4.0","credit":"European Commission","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Julius_Maada_Bio_-_2023_(cropped).jpg"},"sources":[{"label":"Wikipedia (English): Julius Maada Bio","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Maada_Bio","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"},{"label":"Wikidata item Q283829","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q283829","license":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},{"label":"Image: Julius Maada Bio - 2023 (cropped).jpg by European Commission (CC BY 4.0)","url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Julius_Maada_Bio_-_2023_(cropped).jpg","license":null}],"license":{"text":"CC BY-SA 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","facts":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},"attribution":"Text from the Wikipedia article Julius Maada Bio, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Julius Maada Bio - 2023 (cropped).jpg — European Commission, CC BY 4.0.","cite":"\"Julius Maada Bio\". DigiNepal. Last updated 31 October 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/julius-maada-bio. Retrieved 6 November 2026.","date_modified":"2026-10-31T13:59:50Z","facts_checked":"2026-11-06","alternates":{"html":"https://diginpl.com/people/julius-maada-bio","en":"https://diginpl.com/people/julius-maada-bio","ne":"https://diginpl.com/people/julius-maada-bio?lang=ne"}}