Video: Declassified CIA Files Reveal Umaru Dikko 1984 London Kidnap Was Ordered By Buhari
| Umaru Dikko appearing in court in 1984 after the failed kidnap |
Dikko was Nigeria's minister of transportation from 1979-1983 under former President Shehu Shagari's government.
After Buhari's military coup on December 31, 1983, Dikko and some of his colleagues in the Shagari government fled into exile.
Dikko and many other politicians of that era had alegedly been involved in large-scale corruption while in office.
The CIA report read: ''The elements as you may recall, were two crates at the London airport and two men in each.
''In one was Umaru Dikko, a former cabinet minister in Nigeria,
living in exile in Great Britain. He had been kidnapped, drugged and
packed for shipment to Nigeria.''
The document suggested that some of Dikko's associates already in a
Lagos jail convinced the Nigeria secret police that they could arrange
for Israeli mercenaries to bring Dikko back.
''There is evidence quite a number of business men in Europe were
approached and refused to have anything to do with the matter,'' the report added.
The document also quoted media reports suggesting that the botched
kidnap of Dikko may have been a collaboration between the Nigerian and
Israeli governments.
Excerpts from the CIA document
The Nigerian intelligence officer and the three Israelis all received prison sentences in the UK.
Diplomatic relations between the UK and Nigeria broke down and were only
fully restored two years later. The Nigerian and Israeli governments
have always denied involvement in the kidnapping.
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