by Samson Mawulolo Ahlijah

Samson Mawulolo Ahlijah

In July 2023, David Grusch, a US Air Force officer and former intelligence agent, declared under oath to Congress that the US government had developed a vast programme concerning aliens. David Grusch asserted, with the serenity of a man who has proof of what he is saying, that his country’s government was in possession of non-human spaceships and the bodies of extraterrestrial pilots. According to the former intelligence officer, individuals had been murdered in order to keep this information secret.

David Grusch’s statements went down like a bombshell in UFO circles and provoked a flurry of comments on social networks. The world’s media seized on the subject, and as the US executive commissioned the Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) to look into the matter, many ufology enthusiasts hoped that at last the world’s leading power would admit that humanity has been in contact with extraterrestrial races for decades.

David Grusch

The agency’s report, published on 8 March 2024, came as a cold shower. For the AARO, there was no real data and no material evidence to corroborate David Grusch’s claims. So this episode seems to be over. But the movement in favour of the disclosure of UFO or UAP phenomena is not about to run out of steam. Whether in France, Germany, Brazil or China, UFO sightings have never been so numerous. David Grusch’s outing has at least had the merit of casting doubt in the minds of the most sceptical of UFO enthusiasts. And despite the denial provided by the AARO report, many people refuse to believe that David Grusch is a liar and that all these statements were just the fruit of his fertile imagination.

The question of life on other planets did not arise with the modern world. Greek philosophers such as Anaximander, who lived 600 years before Christ, believed that there must be life on an infinite number of worlds. Some archaeologists believe that the ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilisations were in contact with extraterrestrial races. The search for extraterrestrial life has accelerated with the development of technology. All over the world, the subject is as fascinating as it is intriguing.

But all the agitation and media frenzy triggered by David Grusch’s media appearance seems not to have reached the African continent. In this land that saw the birth of modern man several hundred thousand years ago, the question of extraterrestrial life is for many a delusion of the Western world. Everything would lead us to believe that the continent has been spared unexplained aerial phenomena. And yet this is not the case. In his speech to the Senate, David Grusch mentioned the fact that in 1933, the government of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini spoke of the appearance of a non-human aircraft in the sky. He forgot to mention that in the recent past, in 1994 in Zimbabwe, more than 60 pupils at Ariel primary school claimed to have seen humanoid beings with no nostrils emerge from a craft that did not resemble any device made by human hands. The aliens were said to have given the children a message about the future of the world and ecology before taking off.

The Ariel school incident is one of those UFO sightings that leave little room for doubt or ambiguity. We are not alone in the universe! This incident is far from being an isolated case on the continent. There have been numerous reports of unexplained aerial phenomena all over Africa. It’s high time that tongues were untied on the subject of UFOs.

The African continent must not allow itself to be guided by the dictatorship of urgency. It is true that the countries of the continent, victims of neo-colonialism and riven by corruption, are faced with problems of poverty, security, access to education and health and a host of other existential problems. It is important for the leaders and people of Africa to keep their feet on the ground in dealing with these problems. But they must not forget that sometimes it is by taking a walk in the stars that solutions to the various challenges can be found.

Samson Mawulolo Ahlijah witnessed a UFO sighting when he was a teenager, and it was in 2023 that he decided to take an interest in UFO sightings in Africa, following another sighting. The journalist and writer, born in Lomé and living in Togo, believes that the issue of UFOs deserves more attention on the continent. Bringing together testimonies from over 40 countries, he has just written his first book on unexplained aerial phenomena in Africa. When he’s not trying to unravel the mystery of saucers and flying cigars, Samson Ahlijah is interested in security, political and geopolitical issues on the African continent. He is passionate about African history. Having lived and worked in the Sahel, he is an expert on issues relating to jihadist groups based in this part of the world. Samson Mawulolo Ahlijah is the Togo representative of the UAP AFRICA network, founded in November 2024 by the Franco-Gabonese artist and author Jann Halexander.