According to FDR magazine, West Africa saw the emergence of youths who ascended to power in their countries in the late 1980s. However, this is a terrible story about a man who did everything he could to lead.
Here’s the story of Sergeant Samuel Doe, who rose to power in April 1980 as a 28-year-old teenager. As he aspired to be Liberia’s president.
In a surprise nighttime assassination, Samuel Doe and his accomplice assassinated then-president William R. Tolbert Jr, ending William’s presidency.
Liberia’s 133-year-old African-American ruling dictatorship came to an end as a result of this. (often referred to as Americo Liberians).
Doe was elected president despite having no experience with government administration.
All of the former government’s officials were arrested, stripped and paraded through town. A few days later, they were executed.
Samuel received support from the United States of America as a result of this, which was followed by a state visit to America. However, this support did not continue long; as the Cold War ended, the support vanished.
Elections were held in 1985, and Doe won by a razor-thin margin after rigging the results in his favor. Liberia’s civil conflict erupted, leaving Doe vulnerable.
Doe had a fantastic run after defeating rebels in the country in 1990. He was led to believe that the meeting he was attending, between the newly deployed ECOWAS monitoring group (ECOMOG) and rebel leaders, was arranged for him to meet with them to reach an agreement, and he accepted the invitation.
His troops joined him to the meeting, and when they arrived, they were commanded to lay down their weapons. When Prince Yormi Johnson and his troops arrived, it was too late. The mediators managed to slip away, and Doe was captured.
Doe was apprehended and stripped in front of a camera while he was interrogated and tortured cruelly by his kidnappers. His ears are said to have been cut off, cooked, and served with rice to his victorious opponent.
Doe was then carried to a beach, where the saltwater aggravated his anguish and injuries even more, before being pelted with gunshots, signaling the end of Samuels Doe’s reign.
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