Shehu Sani Hails Reburial Of Burkina Faso’s Thomas Sankara, Others

Former Kaduna senator, Shehu Sani has hailed the reburial of Thomas Sankara, former Burkina Faso’s Head of State murdered alongside twelve (12) comrades in 1987.

Shehu Sani Reacts To Reburial Of Thomas Sankara

Shehu Sani gave the commendation in a tweet on his handle on Saturday.

Recall that Sankara and his 12 comrades were reburied at the spot of their assassination in the capital, Ouagadougou on February 23, 2023

Sankara came to power in August 1983 as an army captain, aged 33, after he and former President Blaise Compaore led a leftist coup that overthrew a moderate military faction. Nicknamed “Africa’s Che Guevara”, he was a fiery Marxist-Leninist who blasted the West for neo-colonialism and hypocrisy.

He changed the country’s name from the colonial-era Upper Volta to Burkina Faso – “the land of honest men” – and pushed through a range of reforms, including promoting vaccination and banning female genital mutilation.

Sankara and a dozen other leaders were shot dead by a hit squad at a meeting of the ruling National Revolutionary Council on October 15, 1987.

The killings took place on the same day that Compaore seized power.

Compaore went on to rule for 27 years – during which Sankara’s killing was a strict taboo – until 2014 when he was forced to resign in the face of mass protests against an attempt to extend his nearly 30-year rule.

After Compaore’s resignation, the 13 bodies were exhumed in 2015 from a cemetery on the outskirts of the city for an investigation.

It led to a lengthy trial that culminated in April 2022 with life terms in absentia for Compaore and the suspected hit squad leader, and a similar term for a detained general who had been army commander at the time. Compaore, who now lives in Ivory Coast, has always denied involvement in Sankara’s assassination.

According to Shehu Sani, the reburial of the late leader and the others is commendable, adding that at last, “honour to the upright man and other martyrs.”

Sani wrote, “Thomas Sankara; the reburial of the late Burkina Faso Socialist Revolutionary President and his comrades murdered in 1987 is commendable.

“At last,  honour to the upright man and other martyrs.”

In other news, Kanyi Daily reported that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, and the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami to resign for misleading President Muhammadu Buhari to flout the Supreme Court order on the new naira redesign policy.