One of Nigeria’s most flamboyant and controversial politicians, Alhaji Umaru Dikko, is dead. He died Tuesday morning in London, United Kingdom, after suffering a stroke. He was 78.
Dikko was a popular and highly influential figure in the government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari where he transformed to a political colossus with over-bearing powers and influence. He was then Minister as Minister of Transport.
Born in Wamba, Kaduna State, Dikko fled Nigeria for London after a military coup ousted the now defunct National Republican Convention (NPN) ruling party in 1983. The military had struck, grabbed the levers of power and announced to coup-weary Nigerians that it was out to correct the anomalies created by the government of Shagari, considered then as very corrupt and too weak to entrench reforms.
The swashbuckling arrival of the military forced Dikko and others to flee the country and take refuge overseas. Dikko settled in London.
However there was an attempt by the government of Major -General Muhammadu Buhari to abduct Dikko from London and bring him to Nigeria for prosecution on allegations that he embezzled over $1 billion. The extradition exercise was as dramatic and controversial as Dikko’s political life.
He was abducted on July 5, 1984, outside his apartment building by agents working for the Nigerian government, drugged and crated for transportation to Nigeria as ‘Diplomatic Cargo’ on a state-owned carrier, Nigeria Airways, but the kidnap was foiled by a British custom agent at London’s Stansted Airport.
The failed abduction further shot Dikko’s socio-political profile to the skies but it ended up throwing up a diplomatic row between Nigeria and the UK, which culminated in the expulsion from Britain of two members of the Nigerian High Commission in London, including the High Commissioner. The Nigerian government also reciprocated. Dikko was later pardoned by another military government under General Ibrahim Babangida.
Until his demise, Dikko was a senior member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Analysts say the party would miss him in the run up to 2015 elections.
