Julius Maada Bio (born May 12, 1964) is a Sierra Leonean politician, and the current president of Sierra Leone since April 4, 2018. He is a retired Brigadier General in the Sierra Leone Army and was the military Head of State of Sierra Leone from January 16, 1996, to March 29, 1996 in a military Junta government known as the NPRC. As the candidate of the main opposition Sierra Leone People's Party, Bio defeated Samura Kamara of the ruling All People's Congress in the runoff vote of the 2018 Sierra Leone presidential election with 51.8% of the votes to Kamara's 48.2%. International and local observers declared the election free and fair. Bio succeeded Ernest Bai Koroma as president. As the main opposition leader, Bio was a critic of his predecessor president Ernest Bai Koroma and his admini