Late Capt. Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso became a household name in Nigeria and across the world for his radical leadership appreciated everywhere including campuses and labour secretariats in this country.
Many activists nicknamed themselves or were nicknamed Sankara. Hostels and rally grounds were renamed Sankara square. Many student and worker activists started adorning Sankara Cap as a badge of honour, radicalism and leadership. Hardly a campus that you wouldn’t find a “Student Sankara”, Sankara poster or a place tagged Sankara.
As a student union activist contesting for any position,, just put on “Sankara beret” and whisper some radical sentences during your campaign and at “Speech Night”, your victory would be guaranteed or almost . “Sankara student activists” almost became a parallel force to entrenched Marxist – Leninist socialist groups on campuses. . While it lasted, Sankara fever was real in those period particularly with the change seeking radical youths. .
At the same period that Sankara ruled Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987, Gen. Buhari and later Gen. Babangida were in power. Yet nobody including student and labour leaders lionised them like Sankara. Nobody put on Buhari or IBB beret or paste the poster of them on campuses. Nobody nicknamed himself or herself Buhari or Babangida. If you did in school or labour union, , you would instantly become a State Agent,. You would lose election, if you dared contest, you would be ridiculed and seen as an outcast not fit in the midst of reasonable people.
Although, Buhari, Babangida and Sankara were military dictators, but Nigerian citizens preferred to associate with a far away Sankara for his unusual radical vision, inspiring leadership, anti-colonial economic policies and for the people-driven development he was carrying out in his country. But our own generals were unrepentant terror against their fellow citizens, canceling all socio-economic gains citizens enjoyed by removing oil subsidy, (yes, same oil subsidy, laughable? ), increasing school fees, courtesy of IMF – World Bank economic policy dictatorship which further pauperised the citizens. IBB especially was collecting IMF loans, looting and spending public fund like a drunken sailor. Killing, detaining and arresting anyone opposed to his draconian rule.. Despite this, the military and other security operatives never arrested any Nigerian solidarising and lionising Sankara in spite of seeing it as being spiteful.
Lesson. It means, for citizens, it is not about falling in love with military dictators or civilian dictators, after all, Buhari and Babangida were their own country’s military heads of state. Citizens were simply appreciating effective, pro-people, anti colonial purposeful leadership Sankara gave his country but Buhari and Babangida did not provide Nigeria despite huge human and natural resources in the country.
History is only repeating itself in Africa including Nigeria with the Traore fever, just like Sankara fever spread in the air. Illusion or reality in civilian or military? When leaders of any country performs well, their fellow citizens will lionise them and will stop peeping out of their countries to idolize their “foreign heroes” and condemn their own “local terrors” in uniform or babariga
DSS should stop arresting the new “Traore citizens”, release those already illegally detained for exercising their free love for Traore as other nationals have been doing around the world.
Ilusion or not, a woman or a man goes to bed with the partner they like. And love is not a crime. DSS, police and military operatives should run after Turji & Co the terrorists and other bandits on prowl, killing and maiming Nigerians like chicken.
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