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Yahya Kanu
Sierra Leonean politician · Sierra Leone · On the map · Politicians · Died 1992
Colonel Yahya Kanu Kanu was a loyalist to president Joseph Saidu Momoh. He was first reported by Reuters to have led the coup, but that same day he went onto the BBC's Focus on Africa to deny that role, claiming instead that he was attempting to negotiate with the mutineers.
Yahya Kanu is read about 13 times a day, in 9 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 18 October 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 119 days, one point a day.
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He was imprisoned by Valentine Strasser, who eventually took power in the coup. Kanu was later executed by Valentine Strasser, Solomon Musa, Maada Bio and Idriss Kamara on a beach near Freetown, after being accused of organizing a counter-coup with All People's Congress supporter James Bambay Kamara. The pair were at the time interred in the Pademba Road jail in Freetown.
