Colonel Yahya Kanu (born in Magburaka, Tonkolili District, Sierra Leone) Kanu was a loyalist to president Joseph Saidu Momoh, and his position in the coup is unclear. 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. He was imprisoned by Valentine Strasser, who eventually took power in the coup. Kanu was later executed by Valentine Strasser, Solomon Musa and Idriss Kamara on a beach near Freetown, after being accused of organizing a counter-coup with All People's Congress supporter Bambay Kamara. The pair were at the time interred in the Pademba Road jail in Freetown.