{"id":10581,"date":"2021-06-25T13:37:40","date_gmt":"2021-06-25T13:37:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/?p=10581"},"modified":"2021-06-25T13:38:30","modified_gmt":"2021-06-25T13:38:30","slug":"worlds-youngest-president-now-lives-in-abject-poverty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/?p=10581","title":{"rendered":"World’s youngest president now lives in abject poverty."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Valentine Strasser<\/strong> (26 April 1967-) was President of Sierra Leone<\/a> from 29 April 1992 to 16 January 1996, succeeding Joseph Saidu Momoh<\/a> and preceding Julius Maada Bio<\/a>. He seized power in a 1992 coup to become the youngest head of state in the world at that point, but he was himself overthrown by his former allies in the military in 1996.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Biography<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Valentine Strasser was born on 26 April 1967 in Freetown, Sierra Leone<\/a> to a Krio<\/a> family, and he enlisted in the armed forces at the age of 18 immediately after graduating from secondary school. He became a junior military officer, and in 1992 he led a coup d’etat against Joseph Saidu Momoh<\/a> (who did not supply enough boots or equipment to the army during the Sierra Leonean Civil War<\/a>) and became the world’s youngest head of state at the age of 25. Along with his friend Solomon Musa<\/a>, Strasser ruled the country as a dictatorship, but in 1996 his deputy Julius Maada Bio<\/a>, Tom Nyuma<\/a>, and Komba Mondeh<\/a> allied with disaffected junta members and overthrew Strasser, who left for England<\/a> and later Gambia<\/a>, which rejected his residency in 2000. Strasser was forced to live in poverty with a small pension in Grafton, providing computer skills for youths as an ICT teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n