That's for those that remember about the Umaru Dikko scandal and those who have read about it. Dikko served under Shagari's administration.

Exact crate Umaru Dikko was found drugged in at Stansted Airport in 1984 .

https://mobile.twitter.com/SeeMeSeeNigeria/status/600054953126797312

The Dikko affair was a joint Nigerian-Israeli attempt to kidnap Umaru Dikko, a former Nigerian civilian government minister living in the United Kingdom, in 1984, and secretly transport him back to Nigeria in a diplomatic bag. The kidnapping took place, but the transportation was unsuccessful. After it was foiled, the political fallout seriously damaged relations between Nigeria and the United Kingdom for years.

Dikko was an influential Transport Minister in the civilian administration of President Shehu Shagari,[1] his brother-in-law. In 1983, the Nigerian government was overthrown in a military coup led by Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, and a new military government led by Buhari was established. On his second day in power, Buhari issued a list of former government officials accused of a variety of crimes. Dikko, who topped the list, was accused of embezzling several billion dollars (sources claim that the amount was around 6 billion US dollars) in oil profits from the national treasury. Despite strenuous efforts to locate him, Dikko vanished without trace. In actual fact, Dikko moved to Britain and settled in London, and became a vocal critic of the regime in exile.

Though Israel, at the time, did not have formal diplomatic relations with Nigeria, there were less visible ties between the two nations. In particular, Nigeria was an important source of oil for Israel, and Israel was a significant supplier of arms to Nigeria. The Israeli national intelligence agency Mossad was recruited to locate and bring Dikko back to Nigeria to stand trial.[2]


The kidnapping
Mossad sources across Europe were mobilized, but all failed to locate any trace of Dikko. However, Mossad Director-General Nahum Admoni decided that Dikko was probably in London, which had become a haven for Nigerian exiles critical of the new regime. Mossad katsas, accompanied by Nigerian security service agents led by ex-Nigerian Army Major Mohammed Yusufu, traveled to London. The Nigerian team rented an apartment on Cromwell Road and posed as refugees from the new regime. The Mossad agents rented rooms in hotels catering to tourists from Africa, and posed as anti-apartheid activists. Working separately, the two teams moved among the Nigerian expat community in London, gradually narrowing their search to West London, to the area around Hyde Park, where many wealthy Nigerian exiles lived. They combed the electoral registers freely available in the area's town halls, but found no trace of Dikko.

On 30 June 1984, a Mossad agent driving down Queensway spotted Dikko[citation needed]. He parked his car and then tailed Dikko on foot to his house in Porchester Terrace. Admoni was immediately informed, and ordered surveillance on the house. From then on, the house was constantly watched, while the Nigerians, using their London embassy as a base, prepared a kidnapping operation. Meanwhile, the Mossad recruited Dr. Levi-Arie Shapiro, an Israeli doctor who was a consultant anesthetist and director of the intensive care unit at HaSharon Hospital, to fly to London and participate in the operation. Shapiro's job would be to drug Dikko, and insert an endotracheal tube to keep him from choking on his own vomit whilst being transported in a crate.[3]

Late in the evening of 3 July 1984, a Nigeria Airways Boeing 707 arrived at Stansted Airport from Lagos. The aircraft had arrived empty, and the pilot notified the authorities that the plane had arrived to pick up diplomatic baggage from the Nigerian embassy. On board were several Nigerian security guards, who openly identified themselves as such and stated that they were there to protect the baggage. Their presence was reported to Scotland Yard's Special Branch. The following day, Dikko was kidnapped in front of his home while he was out for a walk and taken away in a van driven by Yusufu. He was then drugged into unconsciousness by Shapiro.[4] However, the abduction was witnessed by Dikko's secretary, Elizabeth Hayes, who quickly notified the authorities.[4][5]

Dikko and Shapiro were placed in one crate (dimensions 1.2 x 1.2 x 1.5 meters), while Mossad agents Alexander Barak and Felix Abithol occupied a second.[4] However, proper documentation that would have ensured that the cargo could not be inspected was not provided.[5] The crates were also not labeled as diplomatic bags, as required by Article 27(4) of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.[6] As a result, customs officials who had received an all-points bulletin alerting them to the kidnapping while the crates were being processed at the airport,[7] were able to open the crates without violating the convention and foil the kidnapping. Dikko was taken to a hospital; he was uninjured.

Seventeen men were arrested;[6] four were convicted and sentenced to prison terms of 10 to 14 years: Shapiro, Barak, Abithol, and Yusufu.[8] All four were released after serving between six and eight and a half years, and were quietly deported. In retaliation, two British engineers in Nigeria were arrested and given fourteen-year prison sentences.[8]


Repercussions

The Nigerian and Israeli governments never admitted any connection to the incident. Nonetheless, the British government immediately expelled two members of the Nigerian High Commission in London, including the High Commissioner. Diplomatic relations with Nigeria were broken off for two years. The CEO of Nigeria Airways was at one point almost arrested by British police. In the aftermath of the affair, Nigeria filed a formal extradition request for Dikko, but it was refused. The Nigerian governments war against the previous government's corruption was also weakened, as the British governments also rejected Nigerian requests to extradite other politicians wanted in Nigeria on corruption charges and living in exile in Britain.[9]

Dikko was eventually asked to return to Nigeria. He accepted the invitation and set up a political party.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dikko_affair

This marked the first international kidnapping in Nigeria sponsored by buhari now kidnapping is a norm and lucrative business .lf a head of state can organise a kidnap attempt what moral justification does he have to condemn others

Buhari the first Nigerian Kidnapper.
That act was a monumental disgrace, Which caused a lot of diplomatic impasse between Nigeria and Britain.

Give us more gist na, wetin make e dey for crate!?

*modified

Thanks for the update, Oga Lalastic!

Dieziani Allison Madueke and other thieves in Jonathan's government will have to use this type of crate if they leave the country to avoid probe.

They better remain in the country or else....

I hate "change"

This is just a tip of the iceberg of Buhari's reign of terror back then in the 80s. Nigerians are so quick to forget. Well, BabaOneChance will remind them soon enough.

Beremx:
Dieziani Allison Madueke and other thieves in Jonathan's government will have to use this type of crate if they leave the country to avoid probe.

They better remain in the country or else what happened in 198
4 will happen again.

The Daura President won't do more than a dead rat.

Ezenwammadu:
This marked the first international kidnapping in Nigeria and now kidnapping is a norm and lucrative business

If kidnapping escaped political thieves to face justice is a bad thing,.................... I guess to you, pardoning them and rewarding them with political positions is excellent.


When Politicians realize they can be drugged and kidnapped for their crimes, let's see if they won't sit up.

operation bring am back to naija!





i remember vividly

lol, this was when the fight against corruption was brutal, now they'll have to use constitutional means and due process to achieve the same results in a much more conventional way... Good for democracy

"In Yoruba Language- Kai! Aye ma ni ka oo.."
Meaning- 'People are so wicked'...
*Modified*
So, many things don happen under the Earth, before I was born...Smh!

Beremx:
Dieziani Allison Madueke and other thieves in Jonathan's government will have to use this type of crate if they leave the country to avoid probe.

They better remain in the country or else....

An accomplice in the kidnap spotted.

tchidi:
Give us more gist na, wetin make e dey for crate!?

updated

If Dikko was not a crook,thief or corrupt,he would not have been in that crate. Why was I not put in that crate? It's because I did not steal Nigeria's money.

Now I beleive GMB is a terrorist

lol

He deserve it.

Baba sweep curruption out of Nigeria.

u can NOT "CHANGE" bruv

SHARIAREPORTERS:
I hate "change"

I believe in change...





























Certainly not APC and Buhari's change

ok

GMB, please bundle all the thieves from their different hiding locations to come and face the music of their looting crimes.

Good riddance to bad rubbish!

This one na pure and undiluted kidnapping o

The illiterate way of fighting corruption.

Omotolu:
If Dikko was not a crook,thief or corrupt,he would not have been in that crate. Why was I not put in that crate? It's because I did not steal Nigeria's money.

You are wrong bro.

You were not in that crate because your were not on GMB hit list.

History May repeat itself and You may not be Lucky this time.

enh hen

SHARIAREPORTERS:
I hate "change"

Change is life, you can't do without it.

SeverusSnape:
Buhari the first Nigerian Kidnapper.
That act was a monumental disgrace, Which caused a lot of diplomatic impasse between Nigeria and Britain.

True!

ba7man:
If kidnapping escaped political thieves to face justice is a bad thing,.................... I guess to you, pardoning them and rewarding them with political positions is excellent.


When Politicians realize they can be drugged and kidnapped for their crimes, let's see if they won't sit up.

They are other legal ways to do it.UK and Nigeria had excellent relationship then why didn't he ask for extradiction

mployer:

Now I beleive GMB is a terrorist

Yes ooo.........I pray he's back to terrorize all these looters in high places.


Well, they know what can do from his past antecedents, that's enough to keep them on their toes.

He's not been sworn in yet and they're already confessing, returning monies stolen and sitting up at their jobs.