Valentine Esegragbo Melvin Strasser, popularly known as Valentine Strasser, is a former military leader and Sierra Leonean head of state who became the youngest African president at the age of 25 in 1994. He and his military junta overthrew the government of Joseph Saidu Momoh and established the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC). After four years, he is deposed in a military coup led by Brigadier General Julius Maada Bio, his second-in-command.
Following the bloodless coup, he was exiled to Conakry, Guinea, and later received a United Nations sponsorship to study law at the University of Warwick, in Coventry, England, but dropped out after a year. Subsequently, he was offered amnesty by Ahmed Tejan Kabbah to return to the country. In 2019, his left leg was amputated due to Peripheral Artery Disease and was given an apartment by the government of his country in 2021.
In this video, we are going to tell the story of Strasser’s fall from grace to grass.
Early Life Of Valentine Stresser?
Valentine Esegragbo Melvin Strasser was born on April 26, 1967, in Allen Town, Freetown to parents of Creole origin. He enrolled at the Church Missionary Grammar School and completed his secondary education in 1985 when he was 18 years old. During his secondary school days, he excelled in math and chemistry.
Strasser Enlisted In Sierra Leone Army At 18 And Was Commissioned At 19
Valentine Strasser enlisted in the Republic of Sierra Leone Military forces immediately after finishing secondary school and had his military training at the Benguema Military Training Academy in Benguema. He was commissioned into the Sierra Leone army at the age of 19 and subsequently deployed to military barracks in Daru, Kailahun District, Eastern Sierra Leone.
At the time he was in the barrack, the country began fighting an incursion of Liberian rebels known as the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), led by then-former Liberian President Charles Taylor, as well as a rebellion by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), led by former Sierra Leone army corporal Foday Sanko. As a result, he was sent alongside other soldiers to fight off the latter’s rebellion.
He also fought against the NPFL’s invasion in the country’s south and east, and domestic rebels known as the Sobels.
While the war with RUF was still underway, military personnel on the front lines in Kailahun District protested, accusing the government of President Joseph Saidu Momoh of indifference. There was a shortage of boots and military weapons, as well as low remuneration and welfare, according to sources.
The troops under Strasser’s command marched from Kailahun to the State House in Freetown to protest the neglect and demand that their unpaid salaries be paid. The troops were led by Stresser and two of his best friends, Seargent Solomon Musa and Captain Sahr Sandy.
Momoh fleed for his life and went into exile in Conakry, Guinea. As a result, a power vacuum was created, and someone must fill it.
Valentine Strasser Became Sierra Leone’s Head Of State At 25
Following the power vacuum, Strasser and the men he was commanding seized power and formed the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) in April 1992. Since he was leading the group of soldiers, he was made the Head of State of the country. Thus, he made history by becoming the youngest president three days after marking his 25th birthday.
With Strasser in power, the country’s youth population had renewed hopes that someone who fall at their level had better chances of championing their cause. Unfortunately, he was just too young and inexperienced to run or handle the complex nature of governmental affairs.
He was more interested in crushing the rebellion led by rebel leader Foday Sankoh, but that didn’t yield positive results. So, he hired Executive Outcomes, a South African mercenary firm to supplement his armed forces in the war.
He Was Oust In A Coup De’tat By His Second-In-Command, Brigadier General Julius Maada Bio In 1996
At the age of 29 and barely four years in power, Valentine Strasser was removed from power by his deputy, Brigadier General Julius Maada Bio in a military coup in January 1996.
The coup which was backed by several NPRC’s rank and file, including Col. Tom Nyuma, Lt. Col. Komba Modeh, Lt.Col. Reginald Glover, Lt.Col. Idrissa Kamara and Lt.Col. Karefa-Kargo, following a dispute relating to elections and a peace treaty with the RUF. He was handcuffed by his guards and exiled to Conakry, Guinea in a military helicopter.
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What Happened To Him After The Coup?
Following his removal from power, Strasser was supported by the UN to study law at the University of Warwick in Coventry, England. He dropped out of school a year later after his sponsorship was abruptly revoked. As a result, he was unemployed and homeless until 2000.
He was mocked, and even the British press published articles with alarming headlines that made his ordeal public. Amnesty International demanded that the British government examine charges of torture against Strasser, accusing his forces of “torture, ill-treatment, and arbitrary killings of unarmed civilians” at the time. Nonetheless, the former Sierra Leone president dismissed the claims as unreasonable, arguing that RUF was to blame for the crimes.
Besides, he revealed in an interview that a man attacked him in a London Underground station and pulled out a knife at him. He was stabbed and then taken to a hospital.
Strasser was later deported after the British government concluded its investigation and had overwhelming evidence. He left for the Gambia and was denied entry, so he returned home after then-President, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah offered him amnesty.
He found respite in returning home, but his woes were compounded when Ahmed Tejan Kabbah’s Sierra Leona Peoples’ Party (SLPP) lost the presidency in the 2007 general elections to the All Peoples’ Congress (APC).
Sierra Leone’s former President moved to Allen Town to live with his mother and brother. Soon, several newspaper reports indicated he resorted to spending his time in a palm wine bar drinking palm wine.
Valentine Strasser’s Left Leg Was Amputated In 2019
At the beginning of 2019, Strasser fall ill and was flown to Ghana on an executive clearance from President Julius Madaa Bio, the man who served as his deputy, and also overthrew him in 1996. He suffered from Peripheral Artery Disease which affected his left leg, so, it was amputated.
He returned to the country two years later and was given an apartment by President Bio, but it was alleged that Strasser was kept under house arrest.
