Establishing a junta with many radical members, the Military Committee of Recovery for National Progress (which included later presidents Thomas Sankara and Blaise Compaoré, and their close friend Henri Zongo),[2] Zerbo's leadership grew increasingly dictatorial.

Factional infighting soon grew within the junta, and on 12 April 1982 Thomas Sankara (secretary of state for information), Blaise Compaoré and Henri Zongo resigned from the Military Committee of Recovery for National Progress.

In the capital Ouagadougou, the army chief of staff Colonel Gabriel Somé Yorian and other officers calling themselves the Council of Popular Salvation moved to depose and arrest Zerbo.

He survived a 28 February 1983 coup attempt, but after arresting his newly appointed Prime Minister Thomas Sankara – and several other members of the Communist Officers' Group – he was hit by a surge in protests, followed by a military uprising led by Blaise Compaoré.

This began the "Burkinabé Revolution", a process in which Sankara and his new junta attempted to radically transform Upper Volta – soon renamed "Burkina Faso" – according to left-wing revolutionary principles.