Written by Max
Siollun
Over the next few weeks, I will be revisiting the controversial attempt to kidnap Umaru Dikko in 1984. Dikko was one of the most powerful and notorious figures in the government of President Shagari between 1979 and 1983. This is the first of a three part series which recounts the circumstances, timing and details of the kidnap.
Umaru Dikko
Alhaji Umaru Abdurrahaman Dikko was born on December 31, 1936 in the small villageof Wamba, close to Zariain Kaduna State. As a young man Dikko worked for the BBC’s Hausa service. He has been at the vanguard of northern Nigerian politics since the 1960s when, then as a promising young politician he was instrumental in (i) mobilizing northern public opinion against Nigeria’s first military government headed by Major-General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, and (ii) he was also secretary of the committee of northern politicians that toured the north to build support for the creation of states across the federation in 1966. By the time civilian democratic rule was restored in 1979, Dikko had matured into a wily and experienced politician.
Background: Corruption in the 1980s
The early 1980s were marked by spectacular government corruption. It is not that corruption did not exist before, but that it was amplified due to greater availability of funds. Since there was more money around, the asking price for kickbacks rose correspondingly and the corruption became unashamedly brazen. It was claimed that over $16 billion in oil revenues were lost between 1979 and 1983 during the reign of President Shagari. Government ministry buildings would mysteriously burst into flames just before audits, making it impossible to discover written evidence of corruption. President Shagari later claimed that he pleaded with his ministers to stop embezzling state funds but was simply ignored. The exasperated Shagari said he simply gave up and prayed over the matter. No politician symbolized the graft and avarice under Shagari’s government more than the combative Transport Minister Umaru Dikko. Stories regarding Dikko’s corruption are legion. One such instance arises in the biography of an American contractor that had a contract with the Nigerian government. When the government was not performing its obligations under the contract, the contractor took his complaint directly to Dikko. After listening to the contractor’s complaints, Dikko went into an adjacent room and emerged moments later with a suitcase full of money which the contractor estimated at approximately half a million US dollars. Dikko then said words to the effect that if the deal could be done a little “differently” life would be easier for both of them. Realizing that he would be in Dikko’s pocket forever if he accepted, the contractor wisely refused the offer (Life Is an Excellent Adventure: An Irreverent Personal Odyssey, by Jerry Funk).
Apart from being the Transport Minister, Dikko also headed a notorious presidential task force charged with alleviating food shortages by distributing imported rice. The task force was accused of hoarding rice to artificially exacerbate existing food shortages in order to drive prices up further, and of issuing import licenses to businessmen with connections to the ruling NPN party. Dikko’s name became synonymous with corruption. In many ways Dikko became the 1980s answer to first republic Finance Minister Festus Okotie-Eboh who was similarly disliked by army officers (leading to his assassination during a military coup in 1966). The comparison was not fanciful. Dikko was the ultimate personification and symbol of 1980s corruption and shady deals in Nigeria. He perhaps thought himself untouchable because he was President Shagari’s brother-in-law and had the President’s ear. Stories have been told of how Dikko would follow Shagari around after major policy decisions so as to ensure that Shagari would not change his mind, and to ensure that each day, his was the last opinion that Shagari heard.
Dikko also had a way of rubbing people the wrong way. At a time of soaring inflation, scarce commodities and falling oil prices, Dikko’s contribution to a debate about poverty in Nigeria was to remark that things were not so bad, since after all Nigerians were not yet eating out of dustbins. He managed to antagonize even his colleagues in the ruling NPN. The NPN had an elaborate zoning system for the distribution of government portfolios - including the presidency. Since the presidency had been zoned to President Shagari (from the north), the multi-billionaire businessman, Moshood Abiola hoped he would benefit from the NPN’s zoning system. Abiola assumed that when President Shagari’s term of office expired, the NPN would “zone” the presidency to the south, and he would be allowed to run for President. He was wrong. When Abiola articulated his presidential ambition, he was rebuffed by Dikko who told him that “the presidency is not for sale to the highest bidder”. Abiola “retired” from politics soon after – totally exasperated with the NPN. Abiola was however to remerge from the shadows to play a key role in Nigeria’s political history.
Dikko and the Military
Dikko also made himself unpopular not just with the public, colleagues and the press, but also with military officers. Given his high profile in the government and scandalous corruption, Dikko knew that if a military coup occurred, he would be a marked man. He kept tabs on senior military officers by ordering covert surveillance on them. Dikko was playing a dangerous game given that the senior echelons of the armed forces officer corps were highly politicised and loaded with officers with significant coup plotting or military regime experience. Among such officers included the Director of Staff Duties and Plans Major-General Ibrahim Babangida, the GOC of the 3 armoured Division in Jos Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, and brigade commander Brigadier Ibrahim Bako. There was political experience among the service chiefs too. Chief of Defence Staff Lt-General Gibson Jalo was a former SMC member, Chief of Army Staff Lt-General Mohammed Wushishi was the former Minister of Trade and Industries and Chief of Naval Staff Akin Aduwo was a former Military Governor. Babangida, Buhari, Jalo, Wushishi and Aduwo all served together under the military regime of General Obasanjo. Buhari complained to President Shagari that Dikko had ordered his movements to be monitored. Dikko had woken a sleeping tiger.
In October 1983 President Shagari was re-elected for his second and final term of office in an election that was marred by accusations of electoral malpractice. His campaign was managed by his brother-in-law Dikko. The stage was set for another military rescue operation.
The Military Returns
Around 2:30 a.m. on New Year's Day 1984, armed troops moved to strategic locations, set up roadblocks and took over the radio and television stations in Lagos. Communication lines were cut and airports, border crossings and ports were closed. In Abuja more troops moved to seal off the President's residence. At 7:00 a.m. normal programming was interrupted by martial music interspersed with the following broadcast by a hitherto unknown army officer:
“Fellow countrymen and women. I, Brigadier Sani Abacha, of the Nigerian army address you this morning on behalf of the Nigerian armed forces.
You are all living witnesses to the great economic predicament and uncertainty, which an inept and corrupt leadership has imposed on our beloved nation for the past four years. I am referring to the harsh, intolerable conditions under which we are now living. Our economy has been hopelessly mismanaged. We have become a debtor and beggar nation. There is inadequacy of food at reasonable prices for our people who are now fed up with endless announcements of importation of foodstuffs. Health services are in shambles as our hospitals are reduced to mere consulting clinics without drugs, water and equipment. Our educational system is deteriorating at an alarming rate. Unemployment figures including the undergraduates have reached embarrassing and unacceptable proportions. In some states, workers are being owed salary arrears of eight to twelve months and in others there are threats of salary cuts. Yet our leaders revel in squandermania, corruption and indiscipline, and continue to proliferate public appointments in complete disregard of our stark economic realities.
It was the monotone voice of Brigadier Sani Abacha, the commander of the 9th mechanised brigade in Ikeja. Nigerians had heard such messages from uniformed men before. On the last day of 1983, President Shehu Shagari was overthrown in an almost bloodless military coup as the army abandoned the barracks once again in order to “save this nation from imminent collapse”. The only casualty of the coup was Brigadier Ibrahim Bako who was shot while trying to arrest President Shagari in Abuja. The coup was financed by an extremely wealthy southern businessman that Dikko had upset earlier. The new military Head of State was the officer that Dikko had so antagonised earlier: Major-General Muhammadu Buhari. Dikko’s problems were just beginning.
Mossad boss Nahum Admoni felt that London was the most likely hideaway for Dikko. London was a favourite haunt of Nigerian fugitives from justice. They were typically Anglophile and had residences in the most affluent areas of London. Some Mossad agents set up base in London along with Nigerian Major (retired) Mohammed Ahmadu Jarfa Yusufu. Yusufu was a 40 year old former army officer. After the military coup that overthrew Shagari he was transferred to the Nigerian Ministry of External Affairs and posted to Nigeria’s High Commission in the UK on May 1984. Although Yusufu entered the UK on a diplomatic passport, the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office was not notified that he was a member of the Nigerian diplomatic mission. Clearly, he had been planted for the specific purpose of taking part in the Dikko operation.
Two separate groups of undercover agents worked underground among London’s Nigerian community. The search was narrowed to west London where many Nigerian officials had opulent residences purchased with embezzled Nigerian state funds. The Dikko trail seemed to be running cold until a chance encounter during the summer of 1984. On June 30, 1984 a Mossad agent spotted a man fitting Dikko’s description in London’s wealthy Bayswater neighbourhood. The agent surreptitiously followed Dikko on foot to a house at number 49 Porchester Terrace. For several days the house was continuously watched by the agents, and Dikko’s routine and movements were noted.
Logistics
The plans for Dikko’s capture were assembled by a small team. It involved making arrangements to capture, anaesthetise, and then transport Dikko out of the UK to Nigeria to face trial. Dr Levi-Arie Shapiro was a 43 year old Israeli national, a consultant and director of the intensive care unit at Hasharon hospital in Tel Aviv. “Lou” Shapiro was also a reserve Major in the Israeli army. Shapiro was recruited into the plot by a 27 year old Mossad field officer named Alexander Barak who gave him money to purchase anaesthetics which would be used to stupefy Dikko. Barak was from the Israeli coastal town of Netanya and came from a family of diamond dealers. Another Mossad field officer named Felix Abithol (31 years old) arrived in London on July 2, 1984 and checked into the Russell Square hotel. Meanwhile Major Yusufu hired a van which would be used to convey Dikko once he had been captured. Strangely, Yusufu’s men opted to hire a bright conspicuous canary yellow van.
On July 4, 1984 a Nigerian Airways Boeing 707 cargo plane flew in with no cargo from Lagos and landed at Stansted airport. The UK authorities were informed that the plane had come in to collect diplomatic baggage from the Nigerian High Commission in London. Several Nigerian security officers were onboard the plane and had orders not to leave the airport.
July 5, 1984
The next day Major Yusufu drove the van he had rented from Notting Hill Gate in west London and parked outside Dikko’s house on Porchester Terrace. With Yusufu in the van were Dr Shapiro, Barak and Abithol. Meanwhile, back at Stansted airport the Captain of the Nigerian Airways plan that landed the day before filed a departure time of 3pm and claimed that on its way back to Nigeria, the plane would be carrying “documentation” for the Nigerian Ministry of External Affairs. Diplomatic immunity was claimed for the “documentation”.
Porchester Terrace - Midday
Just before lunchtime Dikko emerged from the house in Porchester Terrace for a midday interview with a Ghanaian journalist named Elizabeth Akua Ohene. Ohene was then the editor of Talking Drum magazine but later became a Minister of State in Ghana’s Ministry of Education. As Dikko walked, two men burst out from the yellow van parked outside his house, grabbed him and forced him into the back of the van. Within seconds the van doors had closed and the van sped away at break-neck speed. Quick, surgical and precise, it was a typical Mossad operation. Inside the van Dikko was dumped on his back and handcuffed. After traversing through London’s busy streets the van eventually came to a halt. Dikko was initially relieved and thought his kidnappers had been stopped by the police. He was wrong. They had simply stopped to refuel. Dikko was told to keep quiet as his captors refuelled. At a predetermined rendezvous point near Regent’s Park, Dikko was transferred to a waiting lorry. Dr Shapiro went to work and injected Dikko in the arm and buttock with a powerful anaesthetic. Dikko lost consciousness.
However there was a hitch. Through a window Dikko’s secretary Elizabeth Hayes witnessed Dikko being bundled into the van. The astonished secretary managed to compose herself enough to quickly dial 999 (the UK’s emergency services number) and alerted the authorities of the incredible incident she just witnessed. Given Dikko’s profile as a former Nigerian government minister, the call was quickly escalated and within minutes police had arrived at the scene, closely followed by officers from Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist squad. The Foreign Office and the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were also alerted. All customs officials at airports, ports and border crossings were told to be extra vigilant with regard to Nigeria bound vessels.
There was a second hitch. When subsequently interviewed by Israel’s biggest selling newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, Alexander Barak said "In retrospect, I found out that the main culprit had been Group Captain Banfa, formerly head of the Nigerian air force and now CEO of Air Nigeria. This guy was supposed, according to the plan, to meet at 9:00 A.M. with Yusufu and Dr. Shapiro at the apartment in London and give them the right documents and join us, to supervise the loading of the diplomatic crates at Stanstead Airport. But at the last minute Banfa got cold feet." The absence of the correct diplomatic documents would come back to haunt the kidnappers.
Back to Stansted Airport
By mid-afternoon on July 5, 1984 Dikko had been anaesthetised into unconsciousness by Dr Shapiro, locked into a crate and taken to Stansted airport. However at Stansted there was no visible sign of Dikko, Shapiro, Abithol or Barak. Instead a lorry ferried two crates to the airport. The lorry was escorted by two black Mercedes Benz cars bearing Nigerian diplomatic licence plates. Shortly before 3pm two crates labelled "diplomatic baggage" and addressed to the Nigerian Ministry of External Affairs in Lagos were being loaded onto the Nigerian Airways plane. The crates were 1.2 meters in height, 1.2 meters in depth and 1.5 meters in width. They were accompanied by Major Yusufu and a member of the Nigerian High Commission in London named Okon Edet. Having been warned by the security forces to be wary, customs officers were unusually inquisitive and vigilant.
A customs officer named Charles Morrow noticed an unusual medical smell (probably the powerful medical anaesthetic sodium pentathol) and a noise emanating from one of the crates. Although the 707 was minutes away from take off, this gave Morrow an excuse to use red tape to get a closer look at the crates. On the pretext that the crates did not have the correct official seal, Morrow insisted on having a closer look at them. Major Yusufu protested furiously that the crates were protected by diplomatic immunity and could not be searched. His vehement protests were dismissed and the customs officers opened the crates with a crowbar.
What they found inside was shocking. In the first case was a bound and unconscious Dikko with his torso bare. Dikko’s captors had shoved an endo-tracheal tube in his throat to prevent him from choking on his own vomit when he was out cold, but he was still alive. They wanted him brought to Nigeria alive rather than dead. Beside him was Dr Shapiro brandishing syringes and a supply of additional anaesthetics with which to administer replenishments to Dikko. Dr Shapiro asked the customs officers “Well gentlemen, what do we do now?”. Abithol and Barak were found in the second crate. Dikko was rushed to Hertfordshire and Essex Hospital in Bishops Stortford. He regained consciousness at midday the following day having been unconscious for 36 hours. He awoke totally oblivious to the ensuing drama and his dramatic rescue, and received treatment at the hospital under heavy police guard. Barak later blamed Nigerian air force officer Bernard Banfa for the plan’s failure.
Official Reaction
Britain was angry at the kidnap attempt on its soil. Nigeria’s sending of security agents to commit a crime within the borders of a friendly country was a hostile act of the highest magnitude. The Nigerian government played a straight bat and denied any involvement in the affair. Nigeria’s High Commissioner in London, Major-General Haladu Anthony Hannaniya claimed the incident was the work of ''some patriotic friends of Nigeria''. Hannaniya was formerly Nigeria’s military attaché at the Nigerian High Commission in London, but was promoted to High Commissioner when the military returned to power.
A Diplomatic Standoff
It was the turn of the British security forces to go to work. The Nigerian Airways 707 was detained by the police and was not permitted to take off. 17 people were also arrested on suspicion of complicity in Dikko’s kidnap. The 17 suspects included the 707 crew, Abithol, Barak and Yusufu. Nigeria retaliated swiftly. Forty-five minutes after a British Caledonian Boeing 747 flight took off from Lagos it was ordered back ''for security reasons''. The plane's 222 passengers were allowed to disembark and leave the airport, but the plane was held. This led to a days long standoff between Britain and Nigeria until Britain released the Nigerian 707 plane, and Nigeria eventually released the British Caledonian plane. However the damage had already been done and diplomatic relations between the two countries became badly strained. It was the worst diplomatic crisis between them since Nigeria expelled the British High Commissioner in Nigeria Sir Martin Le Quesne in the aftermath of the February 1976 coup, and Britain’s refusal to extradite General Gowon to Nigeria in connection with it.
Originally, the Dikko kidnap attempt was suspected to be the work of mercenaries. Foreign intelligence involvement became apparent only when the sophistication and daring of the plan was revealed. With the presence of Nigerian diplomatic passports and cars, the British police expanded the scope of their investigation and asked Nigeria to waive diplomatic immunity for its High Commission staff so they could be interrogated. Two members of Nigeria’s High Commission staff Peter Oyedele and Okon Edet were also arrested, and there was talk of calling in High Commissioner Hannaniya for questioning. Outraged at the treatment of its officials, the Nigerian government recalled Hannaniya to Lagos for consultations. The British government was pleased with the development, and as far as it was concerned, Hannaniya could stay there. It announced that Hannaniya would not be welcome back. The British Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe went a step further and ordered the expulsion of Oyedele and Edet (the two Nigerian High Commission staff that were arrested as part of the investigation).
Trial and Punishment
Of the original 17 suspects, 4 were tried (Barak, Shapiro, Abithol and Yusufu). The legendary defence barrister George Carman QC represented the defendants. Sticking to the traditional Mossad response of denying involvement, the defendants argued that they were mercenaries acting on behalf of Nigerian businessmen. The judge did not believe them and was convinced that Mossad was involved. The judge told the jury that “The finger of involvement almost certainly points to Mossad”. Even Carman’s famed legal skills could not prevent the defendants’ conviction. The convicts were sentenced to the following prison sentences:
§ Alexander Barak - 14 years
§ Mohammed Yusufu – 12 years
§ Levi-Arie Shapiro - 10 years
§ Felix Abithol – 10 years
Postscript
All the other convicts have subsequently been freed. Barak was freed after serving 8 and half years of his 14 year sentence. Yusufu was freed in 1991 after serving 7 years of his 12 year sentence. Abithol and Shapiro were freed after serving 6 years of their 10 year sentence. Abithol, Barak and Shapiro were quietly deported to Israel after their release. The dramatis personae have since refused to comment on the matter. Barak later told the Israeli magazine Haaretz that "All those involved in this old story have embarked on new lives or have returned to their Maker, and I do not see any point in recycling the affair."
The fall out from the crisis led to a two year suspension of diplomatic relations between Nigeria and Britain. The controversy also weakened Nigeria’s war on corruption by hardening British attitudes, and creating a pretext for Britain to refuse cooperation in Nigerian attempts to extradite and prosecute corrupt officials. After the kidnap, Nigeria submitted a formal request to Britain for Dikko’s extradition. The request was refused and Britain also refused to extradite other Nigerian fugitive politicians in the UK who Nigeria sought to prosecute for massive corruption (such as Richard Akinjide and Adisa Akinloye). It also complicated Nigeria’s economic relations at a time of falling oil prices and worsening economic conditions. The British government led by Margaret Thatcher responded to Nigerian government requests for debt rescheduling by threatening to publish the names of prominent Nigerians with bank accounts in the UK whose account balances were sufficient to pay off Nigeria’s national debt. This would probably have compromised the legitimacy of past and present highly placed officials. Full diplomatic relations between the countries were not restored until February 1986 when the government of Major-General Ibrahim Babangida came to power.
The role of Mossad, the Nigerian government and the NSO was never admitted by either of the Nigerian and Israeli governments. Dikko remained bitter and in 2001 took his case to the Justice Chukwudifu Oputa chaired Human Rights Violations Investigations Commission. Dikko accused the following of complicity in his abduction: air force officer Bernard Banfa (ex Nigeria Airways), Alhaji Lawal Rafindadi (former Director-General of Nigeria’s National Security Organization), Nigeria’s former High Commissioner in London Major-General Haladu Anthony Hannaniya and Lt-General T.Y. Danjuma. All the accused except Danjuma refused to appear before the Commission. Danjuma denied involvement in Dikko’s kidnap and he and Dikko reconciled during the Commission’s proceedings.
After recovering, Dikko remained in London for another 12 years. He was confined at home under police guard for a year. In exile he fulfilled a childhood ambition by qualifying as a barrister. Dikko was eventually invited back to Nigeria in 1995 by the military regime of General Sani Abacha (who was a member of the government which tried to kidnap and forcefully repatriate him in 1984). On his return he formed a political party called the United Democratic Party (UDP). Cynical Nigerians dubbed the party the “Umaru Dikko Party”. Dikko is still alive. He was a founding member of the Arewa Consultative Forum and remains a prominent spokesman and non-governmental political figure.
