Buhari the kidnapper?

Historically Speaking 3

This article is convoluted, and I will be hitting you with a lot of information; bear with me. Grab a bottle of water or a bowl of ice cream to help with digesting the info. Thanks.

Nigerians are forgetful, and easily driven to nostalgia.

So when Buhari and Idiagbon took over in 1984 after overthrowing the Shagari government, the whole nation was overjoyed

When you think about it, the same thing happened in 2015 when Buhari had his second coming. History mehn, such a beautiful thing.

Buhari and Idiagbon wore the classic military look. Unsmiling, unyielding, tough and strict. They were ready to beat whoever needed to be beaten, jail whoever needed to be jailed and fight whoever needed to be fought.

First call to action? Set up a discipline unit. And they established the War Against Indiscipline (WAI).

It was simple, Nigerians were corrupt, lacked maintenance culture, rude, tardy and selfish. The aim of WAI (which was rebranded into Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI)) was to stop this. And stop they did.

They beat people on the street like dominatrixes trying to exert influence.

You shunt in a queue? You got whipped

You hoarded goods to inflate prices? You got whipped

You come late to work as a civil servant? You got whipped and you did frog jump.

You pulled out your pee-pee to pee on the side of the road? You and your genitals got whipped.

If that version of WAI existed in Lagos today, so many people would be walking around with whip marks on their bodies, but let’s not go into that.

As the Buhari government dealt with the common citizen, it also dealt with the politicians.

You see, the Shagari government was the pioneer of corruption in modern-day Nigeria. The officials were so ingeniously corrupt you had to sit back and admire the intellect.

Kickbacks were like light work. An audit would be ordered on a government agency, and overnight, the building containing documents to be audited would go up in flames.

Civil servants were balling, and the new civilian government in a bid to placate the military, kept giving out big contracts to military officers, serving and retired.

The corruption was so horrendous that Shagari had to beg the ministers to stop embezzling money. Of course he was ignored. And according to him, he resigned to his fate and proceeded to pray for the country.

Now, when the military government took over, it immediately closed all the borders and went on a rampage, picking politicians up like candy.

Approximately 475 politicians, including Shagari, were arrested. Houses stacked with cash were discovered. Bank accounts stashed with money huge enough to feed a small town for decades were discovered at home and abroad.

The DG of NYSC was arrested. When he assumed office in 1979, he had 305 naira in his account.

Guess how much he had in 1983? 7 million naira, about 10 million dollars according to the exchange rate at that time.

Hmmm…..I look at the current DG today, and some things make sense. Nobody should send this to my LGI please, we are all just joking here abeg.

Anyways, politicians were being locked up by the military government, some of them given several ranges of punishment, from 21 years to life imprisonment.

But the Buhari government wasn’t satisfied. The real Don Corleone was still abound.

His name? Umaru Dikko.

Now, this story won’t make sense if we don’t do a quick profile on Umaru Dikko.

Umaru Dikko was the poster child of corruption in that era. He served as the Minister of Transport under Shagari. He was also Shagari's brother-in-law, which made him essentially untouchable. And boy did he exert his influence.

He acted at will, stepping on the toes of both military and civilian guys. He gave out contracts to his goons, confiscated jetties used by military officers to smuggle goods. Hoarded rice from the citizens and inflated prices.

Think Wike, but like ×4.

Buhari and Shagari had a frosty relationship. Shagari had ordered Buhari to take troops to the Chadian border to flush out rebels. After flushing out the rebels, he and his troops moved into Chadian territory in pursuit, but Shagari ordered him to come back immediately.

This trampled on Buhari’s ego, but Umaru Dikko made it worse. He ordered that Buhari be placed under surveillance and blocked his promotion.

So you can see that aside from the corruption, Buhairi had a personal beef with the guy.

But Umaru Dikko was smart, so immediately the coup happened, man packed his bags and with the help of friends escaped to the Benin border in a car full of cash.

From Benin, he proceeded to Togo where he boarded a KLM flight to London via Amsterdam.

London was the place of refuge for Nigerian political exiles in those days, and immediately Dikko landed, he started granting interviews left and right, bashing the government.

Man was like:

The strict Buhari and Idiagbon were not going to stand for that.

Dikko walking scot-free in London was an insult to them because it made their anti-corruption fight look weak.

Imagine that man you’ve boasted was the best in the world, suddenly sighted in another woman’s arms in a club in Ikoyi. That sort of thing.

So what did the government do? Well…..let’s just say they decided to capture and bring back the prodigal son from the UK.

I think the word we are looking for is kidnap. But we can’t use that word for a big fish like Umaru Dikko. So let’s codename it Operation Capture The Big Fish.

OPERATION CAPTURE THE BIG FISH

The Nigerian government couldn’t do it alone, so they partnered with the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad.

You’ve probably heard that name at least once if you watch a lot of Hollywood movies. Mossad is one of the deadliest agencies in the world.

Combine that with a ruthless military dictatorship (Nigeria) and you had a match made in heaven.

One of their agents, Barak, was assigned to this mission. The guys involved were:

• Cohen: An Israeli businessman in Nigeria who introduced the government to Mossad.

• Barak, who was spearheading the mission.

• Rafindadi: Head of the National Security Organisation.

• Dr Shapiro: Who would drug Dikko after he was captured.

• Yusufu, who worked at the Nigerian High Commission in the UK.

• Abithol: one of the guys to rough-handle Dikko.

In fact, for you to know how important this mission was, Barak was handed a Nigerian passport and became a citizen with the name Kamal Shimon.

There were 2 teams specifically assigned for this mission, and Mossad went to work immediately. They put their agents across Europe to work.

All of them were made to memorise Dikko's physical appearance and personal preferences.

Waiters were put on alert. Cosmetic surgeons were put on alert in case someone like him came in to do plastic surgery. Car dealers were put on alert. Tailors were given his measurements. Shoemakers were equipped with his shoe size. Airline workers were put on alert in case he bought a ticket. The entire European Mosaad machinery was put to work.

For months, they tried to track him, but somehow he kept evading them. They even tried to lure him out for a fake interview, but the man became suspicious and withdrew.

The trail was running cold, until a shining light beamed down from the skies.

On June 30th, 1984, a Mossad agent sighted someone fitting the description of Umaru Dikko in the wealthy Bayswater neighbourhood of London. He followed him secretly and found his address to be 49, Porchester Terrace.

Now the mission was on.

July 2nd, 1984- An Israeli man named Felix Masoud Abithol arrived London and lodged at the Russell Square Hotel.

July 2nd, 1984 - Yusufu, a member of the Nigerian UK High Commission, rented a yellow van from Notting Hill.

July 4th, 1984 - A Nigerian Airways Boeing 707 cargo plane landed at the Stansted airport in Essex. The Nigerian government had informed the UK that the plane was to airlift some “sensitive documents for the Nigerian government”. The plane contained several Nigerian security operatives and they were ordered not to leave the airport.

The plane parked at a place out of sight and remained there.

JULY 5TH, 1984 - THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE.

At midday, Umaru Dikko emerged from his apartment at 49, Porchester Terrace, heading for an interview with Talking Drum magazine. He obviously had a lot on his mind, because he didn't notice the yellow van moving slowly towards him.

The van eventually got to his side, and he turned his head to look, but it was too late.

The men moved with surgical precision, and in a few seconds, Dikko was bundled into the van before he even had time to yell.

The vehicle took off at neck-breaking speed, and within seconds the street was quiet, as if nothing had happened.

Dikko was handcuffed and threatened into silence as the van moved through the streets of London. At a point near Regent Zoo, he was transferred to a waiting lorry.

Shapiro went to work and injected him in the arms and buttocks with a powerful respiratory depressant.

Dikko was knocked out immediately.

At 4pm, a white lorry pulled up at the Stansted airport with two crates. It was accompanied by 2 Black Mercedes-Benzes from the Nigerian High Commission with two diplomatic officials, Yusufu and Okon Edet.

The crates had the seal “diplomatic baggage” on them and were to be loaded on the Nigerian Airways plane waiting patiently.

Now, when two countries are allies, diplomatic documents, baggage and even officials are immune from being searched, and they are given a free pass.

So naturally, these “baggage” shouldn’t be inspected.

But there was a small hitch.

You see, as Umaru Dikko was being bundled into the van, his secretary, Elizabeth Hayes, saw from the window of his house what was happening. In a fit of panic, she quickly telephoned the UK emergency services 999, who escalated to the British Police.

Once they confirmed who he was, things quickly became clear. Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist squad was contacted. The UK Foreign Office and the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher were informed.

All airports, land borders, seaports and police officials were immediately put on alert.

Back at the airport, the baggage was unloaded from the lorry and placed in the customs area in preparation to be loaded onto the plane.

However, something was wrong. One of the customs officers, Charles Morrow, noticed a foul medical smell coming from one of the crates. There was a strange noise too.

Using the excuse of “wrong diplomatic seal”, he moved closer to the crates, and the noises became louder. He immediately ordered his staff to back off and asked the forklift that would lift the crates to the plane to pause.

The police were called in, and they surrounded the Nigeria Airways plane. One of the policemen came with a crowbar and ordered everyone to move away from the crate.

Yesufu protested vehemently, arguing that this was diplomatic baggage, not to be touched or inspected, but the police paid him no heed.

They cracked open the first crate, and everyone stepped back in shock. A naked, unconscious Umaru Dikko was found with an endotracheal tube plunged into his mouth to prevent him from choking on his vomit.

Several syringes surrounded him and some anaesthesia just in case he woke up and another dose was needed.

In the second crate, Abithol and Yarak were found.

Umaru Dikko was quickly rushed to the Hertfordshire and Essex hospital where he lay unconscious for 36 straight hours.

17 arrests were made immediately, including Yusufu, Barak, Abithol and all the officials on the plane.

The Nigerian & Israeli governments denied involvement, with the Nigerian High Commissioner to the UK saying the work was probably done by “friends of Nigeria”

The UK government grounded the Nigeria Airways plane, and refused to allow it leave the airport.

In response, a British Caledonian Boeing 707 that took off from Lagos was called back 45 minutes into its flight, citing security reasons.

Once the plane landed at MMA, all 222 passengers were made to disembark, and the Nigerian government refused to release it too.

Do me I do you. One-one goalless draw.

The standoff lasted for one day until the British decided to let the plane go, and after a while, the Nigerian government also released the British plane.

But that was the end of diplomatic relations between the Nigerian and British government for 3 years.

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When the news that the Nigerian government tried to kidnap Umaru Dikko surfaced in Nigeria, the citizens were overjoyed. That the government could try something that bold and audacious was a thing of pride for Nigerians.

Nigerians mehn, we are so weird and beautiful.

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I sincerely apologise for the lateness in dropping this. This should be Historically Speaking 4, but the article on Tinubu is not ready yet, there’s a lot of research to be done.

Anyways, have a great week.