THE KIDNAP OF UMARU DIKKO (CONCLUSION)
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BY MAX SIOLLUN
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Continued from:
http://www.nigerian-newspaper.com/umaru-dikko.htm (Part 1)
http://www.nigerian-newspaper.com/nigeria-and-israel.htm (Part 2)
Over the past few weeks I have been revisiting the controversial attempt to
kidnap Umaru Dikko in 1984. Dikko was one of the most powerful and notorious
figures in the government of President Shagari between 1979 and 1983. This is
the concluding part of the series which recounts the circumstances, timing and
details of the kidnap.
Mossad boss Nahum Admoni felt that London was the most likely hideaway for Dikko.
London was a favourite haunt of Nigerian fugitives from justice. They were
typically Anglophile and had residences in the most affluent areas of London.
Some Mossad agents set up base in London along with Nigerian Major (retired)
Mohammed Ahmadu Jarfa Yusufu. Yusufu was a 40 year old former army officer.
After the military coup that overthrew Shagari he was transferred to the
Nigerian Ministry of External Affairs and posted to Nigeria’s High Commission in
the UK on May 1984. Although Yusufu entered the UK on a diplomatic passport, the
UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office was not notified that he was a member of
the Nigerian diplomatic mission. Clearly, he had been planted for the specific
purpose of taking part in the Dikko operation.
Two separate groups of undercover agents worked underground among London’s
Nigerian community. The search was narrowed to west London where many Nigerian
officials had opulent residences purchased with embezzled Nigerian state funds.
The Dikko trail seemed to be running cold until a chance encounter during the
summer of 1984. On June 30, 1984 a Mossad agent spotted a man fitting Dikko’s
description in London’s wealthy Bayswater neighbourhood. The agent
surreptitiously followed Dikko on foot to a house at number 49 Porchester
Terrace. For several days the house was continuously watched by the agents, and
Dikko’s routine and movements were noted.
Logistics
The plans for Dikko’s capture were assembled by a small team. It involved making
arrangements to capture, anaesthetise, and then transport Dikko out of the UK to
Nigeria to face trial. Dr Levi-Arie Shapiro was a 43 year old Israeli national,
a consultant and director of the intensive care unit at Hasharon hospital in Tel
Aviv. “Lou” Shapiro was also a reserve Major in the Israeli army. Shapiro was
recruited into the plot by a 27 year old Mossad field officer named Alexander
Barak who gave him money to purchase anaesthetics which would be used to stupefy
Dikko. Barak was from the Israeli coastal town of Netanya and came from a family
of diamond dealers. Another Mossad field officer named Felix Abithol (31 years
old) arrived in London on July 2, 1984 and checked into the Russell Square
hotel. Meanwhile Major Yusufu hired a van which would be used to convey Dikko
once he had been captured. Strangely, Yusufu’s men opted to hire a bright
conspicuous canary yellow van.
On July 4, 1984 a Nigerian Airways Boeing 707 cargo plane flew in with no cargo
from Lagos and landed at Stansted airport. The UK authorities were informed that
the plane had come in to collect diplomatic baggage from the Nigerian High
Commission in London. Several Nigerian security officers were onboard the plane
and had orders not to leave the airport.
July 5, 1984
The next day Major Yusufu drove the van he had rented from Notting Hill Gate in
west London and parked outside Dikko’s house on Porchester Terrace. With Yusufu
in the van were Dr Shapiro, Barak and Abithol. Meanwhile, back at Stansted
airport the Captain of the Nigerian Airways plan that landed the day before
filed a departure time of 3pm and claimed that on its way back to Nigeria, the
plane would be carrying “documentation” for the Nigerian Ministry of External
Affairs. Diplomatic immunity was claimed for the “documentation”.
Porchester Terrace - Midday
Just before lunchtime Dikko emerged from the house in Porchester Terrace for a
midday interview with a Ghanaian journalist named Elizabeth Akua Ohene. Ohene
was then the editor of Talking Drum magazine but later became a Minister of
State in Ghana’s Ministry of Education. As Dikko walked, two men burst out from
the yellow van parked outside his house, grabbed him and forced him into the
back of the van. Within seconds the van doors had closed and the van sped away
at break-neck speed. Quick, surgical and precise, it was a typical Mossad
operation. Inside the van Dikko was dumped on his back and handcuffed. After
traversing through London’s busy streets the van eventually came to a halt.
Dikko was initially relieved and thought his kidnappers had been stopped by the
police. He was wrong. They had simply stopped to refuel. Dikko was told to keep
quiet as his captors refuelled. At a predetermined rendezvous point near
Regent’s Park, Dikko was transferred to a waiting lorry. Dr Shapiro went to work
and injected Dikko in the arm and buttock with a powerful anaesthetic. Dikko
lost consciousness.
However there was a hitch. Through a window Dikko’s secretary Elizabeth Hayes
witnessed Dikko being bundled into the van. The astonished secretary managed to
compose herself enough to quickly dial 999 (the UK’s emergency services number)
and alerted the authorities of the incredible incident she just witnessed. Given
Dikko’s profile as a former Nigerian government minister, the call was quickly
escalated and within minutes police had arrived at the scene, closely followed
by officers from Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist squad. The Foreign Office and
the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were also alerted. All customs officials at
airports, ports and border crossings were told to be extra vigilant with regard
to Nigeria bound vessels.
There was a second hitch. When subsequently interviewed by Israel’s biggest
selling newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, Alexander Barak said "In retrospect, I found
out that the main culprit had been Group Captain Banfa, formerly head of the
Nigerian air force and now CEO of Air Nigeria. This guy was supposed, according
to the plan, to meet at 9:00 A.M. with Yusufu and Dr. Shapiro at the apartment
in London and give them the right documents and join us, to supervise the
loading of the diplomatic crates at Stanstead Airport. But at the last minute
Banfa got cold feet." The absence of the correct diplomatic documents would come
back to haunt the kidnappers.
Back to Stansted Airport
By mid-afternoon on July 5, 1984 Dikko had been anaesthetised into
unconsciousness by Dr Shapiro, locked into a crate and taken to Stansted
airport. However at Stansted there was no visible sign of Dikko, Shapiro,
Abithol or Barak. Instead a lorry ferried two crates to the airport. The lorry
was escorted by two black Mercedes Benz cars bearing Nigerian diplomatic licence
plates. Shortly before 3pm two crates labelled "diplomatic baggage" and
addressed to the Nigerian Ministry of External Affairs in Lagos were being
loaded onto the Nigerian Airways plane. The crates were 1.2 meters in height,
1.2 meters in depth and 1.5 meters in width. They were accompanied by Major
Yusufu and a member of the Nigerian High Commission in London named Okon Edet.
Having been warned by the security forces to be wary, customs officers were
unusually inquisitive and vigilant.
A customs officer named Charles Morrow noticed an unusual medical smell
(probably the powerful medical anaesthetic sodium pentathol) and a noise
emanating from one of the crates. Although the 707 was minutes away from take
off, this gave Morrow an excuse to use red tape to get a closer look at the
crates. On the pretext that the crates did not have the correct official seal,
Morrow insisted on having a closer look at them. Major Yusufu protested
furiously that the crates were protected by diplomatic immunity and could not be
searched. His vehement protests were dismissed and the customs officers opened
the crates with a crowbar.
What they found inside was shocking. In the first case was a bound and
unconscious Dikko with his torso bare. Dikko’s captors had shoved an endo-tracheal
tube in his throat to prevent him from choking on his own vomit when he was out
cold, but he was still alive. They wanted him brought to Nigeria alive rather
than dead. Beside him was Dr Shapiro brandishing syringes and a supply of
additional anaesthetics with which to administer replenishments to Dikko. Dr
Shapiro asked the customs officers “Well gentlemen, what do we do now?”. Abithol
and Barak were found in the second crate. Dikko was rushed to Hertfordshire and
Essex Hospital in Bishops Stortford. He regained consciousness at midday the
following day having been unconscious for 36 hours. He awoke totally oblivious
to the ensuing drama and his dramatic rescue, and received treatment at the
hospital under heavy police guard. Barak later blamed Nigerian air force officer
Bernard Banfa for the plan’s failure.
Official Reaction
Britain was angry at the kidnap attempt on its soil. Nigeria’s sending of
security agents to commit a crime within the borders of a friendly country was a
hostile act of the highest magnitude. The Nigerian government played a straight
bat and denied any involvement in the affair. Nigeria’s High Commissioner in
London, Major-General Haladu Anthony Hannaniya claimed the incident was the work
of ''some patriotic friends of Nigeria''. Hannaniya was formerly Nigeria’s
military attaché at the Nigerian High Commission in London, but was promoted to
High Commissioner when the military returned to power.
A Diplomatic Standoff
It was the turn of the British security forces to go to work. The Nigerian
Airways 707 was detained by the police and was not permitted to take off. 17
people were also arrested on suspicion of complicity in Dikko’s kidnap. The 17
suspects included the 707 crew, Abithol, Barak and Yusufu. Nigeria retaliated
swiftly. Forty-five minutes after a British Caledonian Boeing 747 flight took
off from Lagos it was ordered back ''for security reasons''. The plane's 222
passengers were allowed to disembark and leave the airport, but the plane was
held. This led to a days long standoff between Britain and Nigeria until Britain
released the Nigerian 707 plane, and Nigeria eventually released the British
Caledonian plane. However the damage had already been done and diplomatic
relations between the two countries became badly strained. It was the worst
diplomatic crisis between them since Nigeria expelled the British High
Commissioner in Nigeria Sir Martin Le Quesne in the aftermath of the February
1976 coup, and Britain’s refusal to extradite General Gowon to Nigeria in
connection with it.
Originally, the Dikko kidnap attempt was suspected to be the work of
mercenaries. Foreign intelligence involvement became apparent only when the
sophistication and daring of the plan was revealed. The role of Mossad, the
Nigerian government and the NSO was never admitted by either of the Nigerian and
Israeli governments. With the presence of Nigerian diplomatic passports and
cars, the British police expanded the scope of their investigation and asked
Nigeria to waive diplomatic immunity for its High Commission staff so they could
be interrogated. Two members of Nigeria’s High Commission staff Peter Oyedele
and Okon Edet were also arrested, and there was talk of calling in High
Commissioner Hannaniya for questioning. Outraged at the treatment of its
officials, the Nigerian government recalled Hannaniya to Lagos for
consultations. The British government was pleased with the development, and as
far as it was concerned, Hannaniya could stay there. It announced that Hannaniya
would not be welcome back. The British Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe went a
step further and ordered the expulsion of Oyedele and Edet (the two Nigerian
High Commission staff that were arrested as part of the investigation).
Trial and Punishment
Of the original 17 suspects, 4 were tried (Barak, Shapiro, Abithol and Yusufu).
The legendary defence barrister George Carman QC represented the defendants.
Sticking to the traditional Mossad response of denying involvement, the
defendants argued that they were mercenaries acting on behalf of Nigerian
businessmen. The judge did not believe them and was convinced that Mossad was
involved. The judge told the jury that “The finger of involvement almost
certainly points to Mossad”. Even Carman’s famed legal skills could not prevent
the defendants’ conviction. The convicts were sentenced to the following prison
sentences:
- Alexander Barak - 14 years
- Mohammed Yusufu – 12 years
- Levi-Arie Shapiro - 10 years
- Felix Abithol – 10 years
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Postscript
All the other convicts have subsequently been freed. Barak was freed after
serving 8 and half years of his 14 year sentence. Yusufu was freed in 1991 after
serving 7 years of his 12 year sentence. Abithol and Shapiro were freed after
serving 6 years of their 10 year sentence. Abithol, Barak and Shapiro were
quietly deported to Israel after their release. The dramatis personae have since
refused to comment on the matter. Barak later told the Israeli magazine Haaretz
that "All those involved in this old story have embarked on new lives or have
returned to their Maker, and I do not see any point in recycling the affair."
The fall out from the crisis led to a two year suspension of diplomatic
relations between Nigeria and Britain. The controversy also weakened Nigeria’s
war on corruption by hardening British attitudes, and creating a pretext for
Britain to refuse cooperation in Nigerian attempts to extradite and prosecute
corrupt officials. After the kidnap, Nigeria submitted a formal request to
Britain for Dikko’s extradition. The request was refused and Britain also
refused to extradite other Nigerian fugitive politicians in the UK who Nigeria
sought to prosecute for massive corruption (such as Richard Akinjide and Adisa
Akinloye). It also complicated Nigeria’s economic relations at a time of falling
oil prices and worsening economic conditions. The British government led by
Margaret Thatcher responded to Nigerian government requests for debt
rescheduling by threatening to publish the names of prominent Nigerians with
bank accounts in the UK whose account balances were sufficient to pay off
Nigeria’s national debt. This would probably have compromised the legitimacy of
past and present highly placed officials. Full diplomatic relations between the
countries were not restored until February 1986 when the government of
Major-General Ibrahim Babangida came to power.
After recovering, Dikko remained in London for another 12 years. He was confined
at home under police guard for a year. In exile he fulfilled a childhood
ambition by qualifying as a barrister. Dikko was eventually invited back to
Nigeria in 1995 by the military regime of General Sani Abacha (who was a member
of the government which tried to kidnap and forcefully repatriate him in 1984).
On his return he formed a political party called the United Democratic Party (UDP).
Cynical Nigerians dubbed the party the “Umaru Dikko Party”. Dikko remained
bitter and in 2001 took his claim to the Justice Chukwudifu Oputa chaired Human
Rights Violations Investigations Commission. Dikko accused the following of
complicity in his abduction: air force officer Bernard Banfa (ex Nigeria
Airways), Alhaji Lawal Rafindadi (former Director-General of Nigeria’s National
Security Organization), Nigeria’s former High Commissioner in London
Major-General Haladu Anthony Hannaniya and Lt-General T.Y. Danjuma. All the
accused except Danjuma refused to appear before the Commission. Danjuma denied
involvement in Dikko’s kidnap and he and Dikko reconciled during the
Commission’s proceedings. Dikko is still alive. He was a founding member of the
Arewa Consultative Forum and remains a prominent spokesman and non-governmental
political figure.
http://maxsiollun.wordpress.com/
maxsiollun@yahoo.com
References
4 Held in London Deny Nigerian Role in Plot, Time Magazine, July 27, 1984
An Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Conflict and Conflict Resolution, 1945-1996, by
John E. Jessup, Greenwood Publishing (1998).
Britain Convicts 4 of Kidnapping Nigerian, Time Magazine – February 13, 1985
British Custom Officials Open a Pandora's Crate, New York Times - July 8, 1984
Development: Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences by Stuart Corbridge.
Routledge (1999)
Diplomatic Baggage: Mossad & Nigeria, The Dikko Story, by Kayode Soyinka.
Newswatch Books Limited, Lagos (1994)
Life Is an Excellent Adventure: An Irreverent Personal Odyssey, by Jerry Funk
Nigerian Foreign Policy Under Military Rule, 1966-1999 By Olayiwola Abegunrin.
Greenwood Publishing (2003)
The Light That Failed, Time Magazine - Monday, Jan. 16, 1984
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