In 1992, military officer Valentine Strasser took control of Sierra Leone at age 25 after staging a coup. Many of his fellow junta members, known as "The Boys," were also in their 20s. His brutal rule included an attempt to change the national anthem to "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now"
How did they pull off their coup? They met with virtually no resistance and just found the president hiding in his bathroom. The soldiers arrested him, then realized they needed to appoint a leader, so Strasser basically became president "by accident"
This is Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now. You have probably heard this song
Article on this here buzzfeednews.com/article/monica…
He had a vice chairman who was 22. After 4 years in power Strasser was then ousted, ended up living with his mom, and all these years later has become a sort of "where are they now" fable, with journalists periodically making pilgrimage to meet him
Another in-depth article on this: newstatesman.com/long-reads/201…
"'The children are running the country,' it was said. A photograph of Strasser at the 1993 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Limassol, Cyprus, shows a young man in sunglasses and a T-shirt, emblazoned with the words 'Sunny Days in Cyprus'"
He also held official celebrations for Valentine's Day. Not joking, that's in the BuzzFeed article. Also for Bob Marley's birthday
The world's current youngest head of state is also a junta leader (Ibrahim Traore, Burkina Faso), although he's in his 30s

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