Strasser was born and raised in the neighbourhood of Allen Town in the east end of Sierra Leone's capital Freetown to Creole parents.

In the context of the Sierra Leone Civil War which had erupted in the previous year, he led a coup d'état in 1992 which overthrew president Joseph Saidu Momoh.

During the war, he hired Executive Outcomes, a South African mercenary firm to repel the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel group.

As the war continued, after nearly four years in power, Strasser was ousted in a second military coup in 1996,[3] led by his deputy, Brigadier General Julius Maada Bio.

Valentine Esegragbo Melvin Strasser was born on 26 April 1967 in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, to parents from the Creole ethnic group.

After many appeals, warnings or threats, the young soldiers decided to march down in their combat from Kailahun to the State House in Freetown on 29 April 1992, to protest about their setbacks in pursuing the war, demanding their outstanding salaries.

[6][7] In January 1996, after nearly four years in power, Strasser was ousted in another military coup, but this time it was his own NPRC members who were not satisfied with his handling of the peace process.

[9] He eventually returned to Sierra Leone, where he lived in poverty on a small pension in Grafton, east of Freetown,[10][11] and worked at the ICT Institute providing computer skills for youths.