Jonathan Nwokpor
Esegragbo Valentine On April 26, 1967, Melvin Strasser was born in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, to parents who belonged to the Creole ethnic group. In Freetown’s far East End, Strasser spent his childhood in the Allen Town neighbourhood.
At the age of eighteen, Strasser graduated from the Sierra Leone Grammar School in Freetown in 1985 after completing his secondary education there. In math and chemistry, Strasser excelled while in secondary school.
After rising to the rank of junior military officer, he led the overthrow of Joseph Saidu Momoh in 1992, making history as the youngest head of state in history at the age of 25. Momoh had failed to provide the army with enough boots on the ground or equipment during the Sierra Leonean Civil War.
Strasser ruled the country as a dictatorship with his friend Solomon Musa. Still, in 1996, he was overthrown by his deputies Julius Maada Bio, Tom Nyuma, and Komba Mondeh, who joined forces with disgruntled junta members. Strasser then fled to England and the Gambia, which refused to accept him as a resident in 2000.
Valentine Strasser did not, however, come from an affluent or distinguished family, in contrast to the majority of African presidents. While many influential and wealthy Africans lack the same level of education, 56-year-old Strasser did.
Captain Valentine Strasser became the youngest Head of State in West African history in 1992, when he took over from his former employer, President Joseph Momoh, at the age of just 25.
Strasser was wealthy and had plenty of possibilities, but he eventually let his carefree, impressionable youth be his downfall. In the struggle against rebel leader Forday Sankoh, he exhibited extreme wastefulness.
With accusations of mismanagement and the execution of numerous regime opponents, he became increasingly unpopular. The majority of his soldiers joined the rebel army after he hired Executive Outcomes as a mercenary front.
The former head of state eventually fled to Sierra Leone, feeling absolutely broken and abandoned and now without a place to call home or a nation. There, he got very little retirement income and lived in extreme poverty.
Strasser chose to take a job at an organization that taught young people computer skills because of his meagre income.
After suffering a severe sickness in January 2019, Strasser was sent to Ghana for medical attention. A blood vascular issue requires the removal of a portion of the body by the medical staff.
After recuperating, the impoverished former leader went back to Sierra Leone in July 2021. He was taken aback to see that President Bio, the man who had fired him previously, had gifted him a home.
He relied once more on his mother’s charity, which reared him as a single parent. Ever the mummy’s kid, he has lived with his mother ever since his exile in Britain and the Gambia caused him to fall on hard times.
After vehemently protesting that he was living in poverty despite being a former head of state, he is now receiving a tiny government pension from the military.
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