An army colonel who seized power in a military coup is set to be sworn in as Madagascar’s new leader in a lightning-fast power grab that ousted the president and sent him fleeing from the country into hiding. Col. Michael Randrianirina, the commander of an elite army unit, will take the oath of office at the Indian Ocean nation’s High Constitutional Court on Friday, he said in a statement published on state media. His ascent to the presidency would come just three days after he announced that the armed forces were taking power in the sprawling island of around 30 million people off of Africa’s east coast.