Umaru Dikko

Umaru Dikko (born 1936, Wamba) is a Nigerian politician and was a trusted adviser to President Shehu Shagari. He was also the Nigerian minister for Transportation from 1979-1983.

He started playing a role in the nation's governance in 1967, when he was appointed as a commissioner in the then "North Central State of Nigeria" (now the Kaduna State). He was also secretary of a committee set up by General Hassan Katsina to unite the "Northerners" after a coup in 1966. [Shehu Shagari, Beckoned to Serve] In 1979, he was made Shagari's campaign manager for the successful presidential campaign of the National Party of Nigeria. During the nation's Second Republic, he played prominent roles as transport minister and head of the presidential task force on rice.

A coup on December 31, 1983 overthrew the government of Shagari. Dikko fled into exile in London with a few other party officials.

On July 5, 1984, he played the central role in the Dikko Affair; he was found drugged in a crate labeled "Diplomatic Baggage" at the Stansted Airport, an apparent victim of a government sanctioned but aborted kidnapping. The crate's destination was a minister in Lagos. ["Why Dikko was seized; KIDNAP IN LONDON," Financial Times (London,England), July 7, 1984]

Notes

References

*JO THOMAS, "BRITISH SEEK FOUR MORE IN KIDNAPPING OF NIGERIAN", The New York Times, July 12, 1984