Umaru Dikko was a high-profile Nigerian politician whose name became internationally known following one of the most dramatic incidents in Nigeria’s political history.
Dikko was born in 1936 and rose to prominence during President Shehu Shagari’s tenure, where he served as the Minister of Transportation.
His political career took a sharp turn after the military coup of December 31, 1983, which overthrew the Shagari government.
The military regime led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari accused several former officials of corruption and mismanagement.
Among those targeted was Dikko, who was described as one of the key faces of corruption during Shagari’s tenure.
However, Dikko, who allegedly embezzled £300 million of oil revenues, fled Nigeria and took refuge in London, UK.
To avoid the lengthy extradition process, Nigerian state agents devised a shortcut, which involved kidnapping Dikko in London and smuggling him out of Britain as cargo without the knowledge of the British government.
The extraordinary plot involved drugging him, sticking him into a specially made crate, and putting him on a plane back to Nigeria alive.
The Nigerian government, led by General Muhammadu, contracted a Mossad front organisation in Tel-Aviv to carry out the mission.
On June 30, 1984, a Mossad agent spotted Dikko in Queensway, London, and secretly tracked him to a house on Porchester Terrace in the upscale London neighborhood of Bayswater.
After placing Dikko’s house under surveillance, the agents decided to strike on 5 July 1984.
Moments after Dikko emerged from the house, two men burst out from a van parked outside the house. They grabbed Dikko and bundled him into the back of the van. The team inside the van included a doctor who injected Dikko to render him unconscious.
He was put in a large crate labelled “diplomatic baggage” and addressed to the Nigerian Ministry of External Affairs in the then capital city, Lagos.
Fortunately, Dikko’s secretary, Elizabeth Hayes, had witnessed the kidnapping incident and informed the police.
The British government ordered customs officials at airports, ports, and border crossings to be vigilant when inspecting Nigeria-bound vessels.
One customs official called the Foreign Office and reported that neither of the two crates had diplomatic clearance.
The flight was immediately prevented from take-off to allow the inspection of the crates by customs officials in the presence of a representative of the Nigerian government.
Nigerian intelligence officials and diplomatic staff protested that the crate could not be opened as it was protected by diplomatic immunity.
However, they were forced to open the crate after the British anti-terrorism police arrived at the scene.
Inside the crate, they found Dikko unconscious, next to the doctor who had injected him.
Dikko was rushed to the hospital, where he remained unconscious throughout the night but woke up unharmed in the morning.
His captors, an Israeli doctor, an Israeli diamond dealer, a Tunisian-born shopkeeper, and Major Yussuf from Nigeria, were all arrested.
The kidnapping caused one of the worst-ever diplomatic crises between Britain and Nigeria, with the Nigerian High Commissioner declared persona non grata in London.
Diplomatic relations between Nigeria and Britain were also suspended for two years.
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