Abdourahamane Tchiani

About

Abdourahamane Tchiani (born 1960s) is a Nigerien military officer and politician who has served as president of Niger since 2025. The Chief of the Nigerien Presidential Guard since 2011, he overthrew president Mohamed Bazoum in 2023, becoming the leader of a junta. He was inaugurated as president of Niger two years later.
As leader of Niger, he oversaw a diplomatic standoff with ECOWAS stemming from the coup, the establishment of the Alliance of Sahel States, and withdrawal from ECOWAS.

== Early life ==
Tchiani was born in 1960, 1961, or 1964. He hails from Toukounous in the Tillabéri Region, a main recruitment area for the Nigerien army in the west of the country. He is an ethnic Hausa. He completed his secondary education in the capital Niamey, graduating with a Baccalauréat in 1984. He then joined the army and studied at the National School of Active Officers in Thiès, Senegal in the same year.

== Military career ==
Before becoming Commander of the Presidential guard, he led forces in Zinder, Agadez, and Diffa regions where he combated drug trafficking. In 1989, he was the first officer to make it to the site of the UTA Flight 772 crash in the Ténéré desert, for which he was decorated…