Mathieu Kérékou
#17,851
Most Influential Person Now
Politician
Why Is Mathieu Kérékou Influential?
(Suggest an Edit or Addition)According to Wikipedia, Mathieu Kérékou was a Beninese politician who served as president of the Peoples Republic of Benin from 1972 to 1991 and the Republic of Benin from 1996 to 2006. After seizing power in a military coup, he ruled the country for 19 years, for most of that time under an officially Marxist–Leninist ideology, before he was stripped of his powers by the National Conference of 1990. He was defeated in the 1991 presidential election but was returned to the presidency in the 1996 election and controversially re-elected in 2001.
