Brigadier (Ret.) Julius Maada Wonie Bio

Brigadier (Ret.) Julius Maada Wonie Bio (born May 12, 1964) is a Sierra Leonean politician who was the military Head of State of Sierra Leone from January 16, 1996 to March 29, 1996 under the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) military junta government.

Bio is currently an active member of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) and was its presidential candidate in the 2012 presidential election, having won the nomination at the July 31, 2011 SLPP national convention held at the Miatta Conference Hall in Freetown.[1][2].

Bio led a military coup in Sierra Leone on January 16, 1996, ousting his close friend and the leader of the NPRC junta government, Captain Valentine Strasser, following a division within senior members of the NPRC junta. In his first public broadcast to the nation following the 1996 coup, Brigadier General Bio stated that his support for returning Sierra Leone to a democratically elected civilian government and his commitment to ending the Sierra Leone civil war were his motivations for the coup.[3].

Bio fulfilled his promise to return Sierra Leone to democracy and handed power to Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of the SLPP following the latter's victory in the 1996 presidential election. After retiring from the military in 1996, Bio moved to the United States to continue his education. Bio is a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C. with a Masters Degree in International Affairs. Bio had served as the president of International Systems Science Corporation, a consulting and investment management firm based in the United States. He is currently married and has four children.