This Day in History: 27 January 1996
Niger's first democratically elected president, Mahamane Ousmane, was toppled in a military coup d'etat and put under arrest in the presidential palace. Coup leader Col Barre Mainassara Ibrahim issued a statement on the state-run radio station that Ousmane was under arrest, the constitution suspended, and that the temporary national council of which he was the head of would be in charge of the government.