Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has been sworn in for a second term, but the main opposition which disputes the election result says it will not recognise him or his government.
Obasanjo and his vice-president Atiku Abubakar waved to a jubilant crowd in a stadium in the capital Abuja today as paramilitary police wielding automatic weapons ringed the area after opposition parties had threatened to disrupt the event.
"Papa Obasanjo show them the way," women in bright ceremonial dress sang at the inauguration, witnessed by African heads of state, Britain's Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and an envoy of US President George W. Bush.
Foreign governments have welcomed the re-election of Obasanjo, a pro-Western leader and influential African statesman at the forefront of initiatives for reform and stability on the world's poorest continent.
Obasanjo vowed to heal deep rifts in the nation after opposition parties alleged massive rigging in April elections that the born-again Christian from the south won against Muslim northerner Muhammadu Buhari. Both men are former military rulers.
"I see my initial assignment as president in trying to heal the wounds from the elections," said Obasanjo, facing a challenge of steering Africa's most populous nation - a major oil producer - out of an economic morass and instability.
"I intend to use my mandate to provide quality leadership for all of Nigeria and for all Nigerians, regardless of their political persuasions," Obasanjo, 66, told the crowd.
There were no immediate reports of any violence in Abuja or 36 other cities where state governors elected in the same disputed polls were inaugurated.
But beyond the celebrations in Abuja's Eagle Square, where polio victims swirled through the crowd on skateboards and policemen performed stunts on motorbikes, Buhari's All Nigeria People's Party had a tough message for Obasanjo.