Thomas Sankara and his Vice President, Blaise Compaoré danced together (BUT)

Thomas Sankara and his Vice President, Blaise Compaoré danced together at an event 5 days before Sankara was murdered, allegedly by him. They grew up together and were best friends. Sankara was warned about the coup plot by the Police, Defence Minister & Intelligence Unit, but he didn’t believe it because he trusted his friend.

Thomas Sankara and Blaise Compaoré did everything together. They joined the Army together, they were in the same boys club. They were inseparable while growing up. Blaise was an orphan! Thomas Sankara’s father took him in and cared for him like his own son, helping him into the army but in the end, he was alleged to have betrayed the Sankara family by assassinating Sankara!

Lessons: choose your friends wisely. Pray to God for a decerning spirit to know who truly wishes you well as you rise. Some friends are satisfied with you when you are at the same level but will switch loyalty once you are above them. May God give us sharp foresight and understanding. Amen.

The president of the West African nation of Burkina Faso, an anticolonial leader celebrated across the continent, was assassinated in 1987. Sankara was aged 37 when he was killed by a hit squad in the capital, Ouagadougou, after only four years in power. Fourteen men, including the president who took his place, Blaise Compaore who is in absentia were put on trial more than three decades after his assassination.

Besides Mr. Compaoré, the man suspected of leading the team that killed Mr. Sankara, Hyacinthe Kafando, was also absent at the trial, his whereabouts unknown.

Attempts by the government of Burkina Faso to extradite the indicted Compaore from Ivory Coast, where he lives in exile, have been unsuccessful. Compaore was chased out of the country in 2014 in widespread public agitations when he sought to extend his close to 30-year rule.