₦airaland Forum

illicit:
Maybe Sankara would have become a villain by now too

TarOrfeeek:
Although it is quite possible.

But we can draw parallels between Thomas A Sankara and Jerry Rawlings life.

JR was unwilling to hold unto power anymore than the law required.

TS would have certainly towed the same line, in addition to his wonderful socialist policies for his country.

owobokiri:
Blaise Campaore is a symbol to the ruthlessness of the neo-colonial super powers in their affairs in Africa. This was Sankaras right hand man. So close to Sankara that when Sankara was told of the coup, he said that if Blaise was involved, there was nothing he could do. Sankaras father actually called on Campaore who used to visit his house with Thomas before the came to power , to tell him what happened to "his brother".. He did not just kill his friend, he hurriedly buried him in a shallow grave..

This man killed one of the most vibrant revolutionaries to come out of Africa. A vibrant young man determined to serve his people was mowed down on the orders of France because he refused to take orders from Paris. This also goes to those who keep accusing many African countries of being incapable of moving forward! When the best leaders are assassinated by western proxies, and misfits are made presidents, the destruction of the country becomes inevitable.

The story of Burkina Faso and Thomas Sankara shows that the influences of powerful foreign countries in dictating the politics of developing countries are the main reasons why most of these countries struggle..

JudgeKronos:
Strong

BluDesk:
Another good one. The same country has still not gotten itself in good shape even 35 years after this assassination.


What best friends will continue to do in this world.... I choose to pin it on betrayal. Human greed and disloyalty than Western influence. A man without impure intentions can never be influenced or motivated from external source. Never.

Penguin2:
Thomas Sankara, one of the finest gentlemen to have headed an African state. Assassinated with the help of the West.

The kind of Trial Blaise Campaoré is going through is the same kind of trial that Theophilus Danjuma should be going through but he has rather been rewarded with multiple oil wells.

Someday the North will pay.

owobokiri:
I totally agree with you.
I just think that this is the stage where we find ourselves in global politics..
Poor people are easily manipulated because of their vulnerabilities..
It definitely won't be the case for ever.. Just hope it ends sooner than later..

BluDesk:
It's beyond poor. I've seen and had well educated persons gave me insane betrayals in my life.


Judging by the picture with his comrade above reminds me of Tupac and a picture of him sitting in the midst of six friends all that betrayed him nearly to death before he died.


My creed has become anew henceforth... " To Stand Alone..."

owobokiri:
Trust nobody while in power..
Investigate everyone, every move and every suggestion..
Double check before every step..
Constantly monitor close allies..

BluDesk:
Roger that. Betrayal can never come from outside. Never. It's always from within rotteness starts..Going forward, everyone must be routinely investigated constantly.

Penguin2:
Thomas Sankara, one of the finest gentlemen to have headed an African state. Assassinated with the help of the West.

The kind of Trial Blaise Campaoré is going through is the same kind of trial that Theophilus Danjuma should be going through but he has rather been rewarded with multiple oil wells.

Someday the North will pay.

owobokiri:
Thomas Sankaras Legacies:

What exactly did the great Captain Sankara want of his country? A retired professor of economics, Noel Nebie told Al Jazeera, “Sankara wanted a thriving Burkina Faso, relying on local human and natural resources as opposed to foreign aid and starting with agriculture, which represents more than 32 percent of the country’s GDP and employs 80 percent of the working population, he smashed the economic elite who controlled most of the arable land and granted access to subsistence farmers. That improved production making the country almost self-sufficient.”

Changing the economics
Sankara did away with the luxuries widely associated with the oligarchs of Africa. His car was nothing fancy; a relatively cheap Renault 5 which was the same make used by ministers. Gone were the grand and expensive presidential cars and unnecessary convoys too. Joan Baxter, who was a BBC reporter at the time says, “Sankara could often be seen moving about the capital Ouagadougou, in the front seat of his little black Renault, arm out the window and waiting like everyone else for traffic lights to change.” This was in comparison to the loud processions that would close down major roads “hours before the president came through in a cacophony of sirens and a blur of speeding BMW motorcycles, luxury sedans, jeeps and military vehicles”. Sankara was not that kind of man. He went on to ban the use of air conditioners in government buildings except in the three hottest months of the year in a bid to control the state energy bills. His salary was the equivalent of $450 and he had reduced the salaries of all public servants.

Championing gender equality
Sankara was a forward thinking leader whose policies make more sense now than they would have in the 1980s. He was not scared to think differently and be loud about it too. One International Women’s Day, he gave a speech reminding Burkinabe men that they all had mothers yet they treated their own wives “worse than cattle”.He did not simply create policies detached from the woman on the ground, the poor woman who would not benefit from quotas for government positions. Sankara went down to the family unit and addressed issues from there going up. He gave an anti-prostitution decree and even went as far as having a conference with sex-workers. He then told the assembled women that they were victims of social injustice and advised them to take up “honourable professions”. Sankara did not just speak, he made certain that State-owned restaurants employed the women. As if that was not enough change for a short four years, Sankara also outlawed female genital mutilation, forced marriages and polygamy.

Promoting self-sufficiency
One of the most famous Sankara quotes is, “He who feeds you, controls you.” The wisdom in that statement cannot be doubted. In early 1987, he had delivered a speech about producing and eating Burkinabe. Baxter says, “Sankara maintained that political independence was meaningless if African countries were still tied to the economic apron strings of their former colonial ad other neo-colonial powers.” According to him, there were trees that abounded in the Sahel which produced delicious and nutritious fruits that were going to waste. In a bid to save the local tomato industry, he declared a “Day of the Tomato” to educate the populace on preservation techniques. He also spoke out against importing apples from France when Burkina Faso had tropical fruits that could not be sold. His thinking was, “...people buy them because they come from Europe and not from our trees here, because they can’t resist the temptation to eat just like a French man.” Baxter calls him the first “locavore” but his intention to produce locally did not simply revolve around food. After having a hard time getting financing for a railway project that would connect Benin to Cote d’Ivoire, he launched a programme to complete the railway with limited foreign aid. 62 kilometres of rail were laid by the Burkinabe between 1985 and 1987. Instead of grovelling for aid, he tapped into the strength of his people and achieved success.

Building Burkina Faso, Inspiring Africa
One of the greatest feats achieved by Sankara was naming his country, Burkina Faso, “The land of the upright man”. This united his country yet etching a fundamental value of his people; honesty above all else. This spoke volumes about the country’s approach to corruption and all manner of vices in the country. The exploits of Thomas Sankara cannot be fully documented without doing a disservice to the man’s legacy. What is clear is that he was larger than life and it only took him four years to change the thinking of all Africans. He may have had his flaws like every other man but his positive work in mapping a self-sustainable route to African success is undoubtedly proof of a legend at work. His ideas live on! In his own words, “While revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas.”

LINK:

https://www.africanexponent.com/post/7696-feats-achieved-by-thomas-sankara-in-just-4-years

That's Blaise Campaore by his right...

TarOrfeeek:
TY Danjuma and JY Gowon are two men who lack any iota of peace.

I've met Gowon personally and had a discussion with him - beneath his prayerful, patriarchal father of the nation cloak, is a self loathing man.

Someone who obviously is plagued by the misdeeds of his mindless leadership.

I feel no pain or anger at the North too. In leadership there can be no vacuum.

Power is not given, it is taken.

If the revolutionary soldiers of 1966 were unable to hold unto the power they had precisely taken, that failure is on them and the lapses of judgement that plagued their planning.

tommy589:
Don't joke with your security as leader

owobokiri:
Blaise Campaore is a symbol of the ruthlessness of the neo-colonial super powers in their affairs in Africa. This was Sankaras right hand man. So close to Sankara that when Sankara was told of the coup, he said that if Blaise was involved, there was nothing he could do. Sankaras father actually called on Campaore who used to visit his house with Thomas before the came to power , to tell him what happened to "his brother".. He did not just kill his friend, he hurriedly buried him in a shallow grave..

This man killed one of the most vibrant revolutionaries to come out of Africa. A vibrant young man determined to serve his people was mowed down on the orders of France because he refused to take orders from Paris. This also goes to those who keep accusing many African countries of being incapable of moving forward! When the best leaders are assassinated by western proxies, and misfits are made presidents, the destruction of the country becomes inevitable.

The story of Burkina Faso and Thomas Sankara shows that the influences of powerful foreign countries in dictating the politics of developing countries are the main reasons why most of these countries struggle..

Penguin2:
You have a point.

The Igbo revolutionary soldiers who took power and couldn’t hold onto it, are to blame.

If they had perpetuated themselves in power like the north has been able to do, we won’t be here crying.