Umaru Abdulrahman Dikko (31 December 1936 – 1 July 2014) was a Nigerian politician. He was an advisor to President Shehu Shagari and served as Minister for Transportation from 1979 to 1983.
The attempted extradition of Umaru Dikko, often referred to as the 'Dikko Affair,' was a dramatic episode in 1984 involving Nigeria's military regime. This state-approved scheme aimed to abduct and forcibly bring back the former minister from London. Dikko had fled to the UK after being accused of stealing billions during the Shagari administration, following the coup in 1983 that saw Major-General Muhammadu Buhari take control.
On July 5, 1984, a group consisting of Nigerian intelligence agents and Israeli operatives, including an anaesthetist, launched a surprise attack on Dikko outside his residence in Bayswater, London. The abduction was swift: Dikko was thrown into a van, sedated, and connected to a heart monitor and an endotracheal tube to ensure he stayed alive during the ordeal. He found himself confined in a hefty wooden crate alongside the Israeli doctor, while two other kidnappers occupied a second crate. The crates were then taken to Stansted Airport, where they were set to be loaded onto a Nigeria Airways Boeing 707. These crates were falsely labeled as 'diplomatic bags,' which typically cannot be checked under international law. However, the plot collapsed due to a witness and some paperwork blunders.
Firstly, Dikko’s secretary, Elizabeth Hayes, saw the abduction unfold and quickly notified the authorities. Meanwhile, customs officer Charles David Morrow became suspicious at the airport because the crates didn’t have the necessary 'Diplomatic Bag' markings or the required documents outlined by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Thanks to this lack of proper labeling, customs officials had the right to open the
crates, discovering the unconscious Dikko and his captors just minutes before the plane was set to depart.
The fallout from this incident was significant, leading to a major international scandal and a serious deterioration in UK–Nigeria relations. In response, Britain expelled several Nigerian diplomats, including the High Commissioner. Nigeria retaliated by arresting two British engineers on unrelated charges, sentencing them to 14 years in prison, although they were later released. Ultimately, four individuals—one Nigerian and three Israelis—were convicted and received prison sentences ranging from 10 to 14 years. Following this debacle, the UK rejected Nigeria's formal request to extradite Dikko, leaving him in exile until 1995.