It's quite understandable. During this period, West Africa had its fair share of military dictators/autocratic rulers from Ibrahim Babaginda, J.J Rawlings, Sani Abacha, Charles Taylor, and others.
former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon (genuis)
To put things in perspective, Yakubu Gowon of Nigeria (the most populous country in Africa) came into power when he was 32 years old. J.J Rawlings of Ghana came into power at the age of 31.
Just like every other typical coup in Africa, the new military junta in Sierra Leone were welcomed by the masses who came out on the streets and celebrated the youthful soldiers.
Under Saidu Momoh's leadership, the economy of Sierra Leone fared badly. There was hardly gas and water for the country's citizens and civil servants were owed months of salaries.
Known as 'The Boys', the leading officers in the coup formed the National Provisional Ruling Council to rule the country. The early months of the military rule were positive. The economy bounced back and people were generally happy. Strasser and his gang even planned to hand over to a democratically elected government.
The optimism and vigour that youth brings also have its disadvantages. The government showed a lot of youthful exuberance, appearing at public events in blazers and aviators.
Strasser was chosen to rule Sierra Leone, not because he was smart or authoritative but because he was one of the few who actually went to secondary school, and could speak English.
Unfortunately, the educational system in Sierra Leone was so bad that Strasser's spoken English was weak. Because of Valentine Strasser's lack of educational polish, he was shy at international gatherings. He once blew off a meeting with Queen Elizabeth II because he was reportedly too shy.
Also, Valentine Strasser and the rest of the boys behaved like spoilt kids. They drove flashy cars, sold diamonds abroad and lived lavish lifestyles, acts that they condemned the previous administration for.
Sierra Leone would fall back to the dark times with the economy falling again, 'The Boys' were accused of corruption and embezzlement. In a bid to appease the international community, the military administration planned to conduct elections in 1996.
Just like J.J Rawlings and Sani Abacha, Strasser put himself forward as a presidential candidate which angered a lot of people. As the nation tumbled further, Valentine Strasser was ousted as the leader of Sierra Leone by his 32-year-old deputy Maada Bio.
Valentine Strasser studied at the University of Warwick in Coventry but did not finish due to protests about a military dictator and a human rights violator to study in England.
Broke and nowhere to go, Strasser descended into alcohol and jumped from couch to couch. In 2000, he left England for Gambia but his time there was troublesome. He was attacked by relatives of one of the people that were killed on the beach in 1992.
Valentine Strasser now lives in his mother's old white house in Grafton, Sierra Leone. Now 49 years old, the former military dictator now lives in seclusion, mocked by little boys who cannot believe that the continent's youngest ruler now wears rags.
Source:Pulse ng
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