Valentine Esegragbo Melvine Strasser (born 26 April 1967) is an ex-military leader who served as head of state of Sierra Leone from 1992 to 1996. Previously a junior military officer he became the world's youngest Head of State in 1992, seizing power three days after his 25th birthday. He was the leading member in a group of six young Sierra Leonean soldiers who overthrew president Joseph Saidu Momoh in the 1992 Sierra Leonean coup d'état. They established a military junta called the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC). In January 1996, after nearly four years in power, Strasser was ousted in a second military coup, led by his deputy, Brigadier General Julius Maada Bio.Strasser is the first of only two Sierra Leonean Heads of State (the other is Julius Maada Bio) to be born after Sierra Leone became an Independent nation. He is also the second Sierra Leonean Head of State from the Krio ethnic group. Strasser was born and raised in the neighbourhood of Allen Town in the east end of Sierra Leone's capital Freetown to Creole parents. He enlisted in the Republic of Sierra Leone Military Forces (RSLMF) at age eighteen, immediately after graduating from secondary school.