The newly inaugurated Liberian President, Joseph Boakai left the podium abruptly after suffering heat stroke while making his inauguration speech on Monday.
The inauguration ended as the 79-year-old president was led off the stage.
Boakai beat George Weah in a runoff election in November, and was sworn in during an outdoor ceremony in the scorching heat of Monrovia -the nation’s capital.
However, his spokesman, Mohammed Ali said he has been stabilised saying the heat was high when he delivered his speech.
Boakai was said to have paused during his speech and aides rushed to fan him. He continued a few minutes later but stopped again and aides helped him walk away from the podium, ending the ceremony.
“It is the heat. The heat was high. They should have had some fan or something around there,” Ali.
“At his age, the exhaustion happened. But it is okay now,” he said at the event.
Some of Boakai’s opponents had raised concerns about his age and energy during election campaign but his team dismissed the criticism.
Boakai had already taken the oath of office before the inauguration ended. Officials continued with the planned lunch but Boakai was not in attendance.