Photos: Samuel Eto'o Meets With President-elect, George Weah Ahead Of His Inauguration

Superstar Footballer, Samuel Eto’o has paid a visit to Liberia's President-elect George Weah as he prepares for his inauguration ceremony to take place today January the 22nd 2018.

 

Samuel Eto’o posed for photos with George Weah, who will be taking over from Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female president, who steps down after two terms of six years each.

 

The 51-year-old former World Footballer of the Year won thirteen out of fifteen counties. His 73-year-old opponent and current vice president, Joseph Boakai got only two counties. Weah becomes the 25th President of Liberia.

 

The ex-Liberian international played for Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan, Chelsea and Manchester City and later returned to France with Marseille. He is the only African to win the coveted Ballon d’Or.

 

 

Weah also won the UEFA Champions League Top Scorer award, Coupe de France, Ligue1, Coupe de la Ligue, Serie A title, English FA Cup among others.

His inauguration would be the first time power was transferred from one democratically elected government to another.

 

Mr Weah’s victory is a big milestone for the nascent democracy. Liberia suffered two brutal civil wars between 1989 and 2003. An estimated 250,000 people died and perhaps 90% of the economy was wiped out. In 1997, during a period of peace, Charles Taylor, a warlord, became president, having made it clear that he would go back to war if not elected. Supporters chanted, “He killed my ma, he killed my pa, but I’ll vote for him.”

 

Mr Weah is idolised, particularly among the young—and more than half the electorate is under 33. He lost to the current president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, in 2005. A former World Banker, she generated a surge of enthusiasm for having neither blood on her hands nor loot in her pockets. However, she failed to curb corruption adequately or fix Liberia’s woeful schools and clinics. Voters cried foul.