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Mamadou Tandja

Mamadou Tandja
Tandja in Nigeria June 2007.jpg
President of Niger
In office
22 December 1999 – 18 February 2010
Prime Minister Ibrahim Hassane Mayaki
Hama Amadou
Seyni Oumarou
Albadé Abouba (Acting)
Ali Badjo Gamatié
Preceded by Daouda Malam Wanké
Succeeded by Salou Djibo (President of the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy)
Personal details
Born 1938 (age 78–79)
Maïné-Soroa, French West Africa (now Niger)
Political party National Movement for the Development of Society
Spouse(s) Laraba Tandja

Lieutenant Colonel (ret.) Mamadou Tandja (born 1938) is a Nigerien politician who was President of Niger from 1999 to 2010. He was President of the National Movement of the Development Society (MNSD) from 1991 to 1999 and unsuccessfully ran as the MNSD's presidential candidate in 1993 and 1996 before being elected to his first term in 1999. While serving as President of Niger, he was also Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States from 2005 to 2007.

Tandja is of mixed Fula and Kanuri ancestry. He was the first President of Niger who is not ethnically Hausa or Djerma.

Following a constitutional crisis in 2009, which was caused by Tandja's efforts to remain in office beyond the originally scheduled end of his term, he was ousted by the military in a coup d'etat in February 2010.

Tandja was born in Maïné-Soroa, Niger. He participated in the 1974 coup that brought Seyni Kountché to power and became a member of the Supreme Military Council. He became Prefect of Maradi in 1976 before being appointed to the government as Minister of the Interior on September 10, 1979; he remained in the latter position until being replaced by Kountché himself on August 31, 1981. He was then Prefect of Tahoua from 1981 to March 1988, Ambassador to Nigeria from June 1988 to March 1990 and Minister of the Interior again from March 1990 to March 1991.


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