Thomas Sankara

Sankara's record is that of a head of state rather than a performer, so the honours are commemorative. Statues, streets and squares named for him exist across Africa and beyond. Annual memorial events every October 15 mark his death. He appears frequently in lists of great African leaders and pan-African icons. His four years in power produced land redistribution to two million people, millions of vaccination doses, and more than 10 million trees planted. A 2021 tribunal conviction of Blaise Compaoré in absentia established the legal finding of a deliberate assassination plot.