The renowned Politician and former Minister of Transportation [1979 – 1983], during Nigeria’s second Republic died at the age of 78, in a London hospital early this morning. Family members said that late Dikko suffered three massive strokes back to back and had been sick for a while, according to Premium Times.
Dikko was a member of the National Party of Nigeria, which was the ruling party then. In 1979, he was made Shagari’s campaign manager, and he was known as one of the most powerful ministers under the Shehu Shagari’s regime in the early 1980s. Dikko was a trusted adviser to President Shehu Shagari. When the military ousted the regime via a coup d’etat in 1983, Mr. Dikko escaped to the UK on exile.
Remember the Dikko Affair? It was an attempt by the Nigerian government to kidnap Umaru Dikko from United Kingdom on July 5, 1984, and secretly transport him back to Nigeria. He was found drugged in a crate at Stansted Airport that was to be claimed as Diplomatic Bag. The kidnapping actually took place, but transporting him back to Nigeria was unsuccessful, after it was thwarted by a British custom officer, David Morrow who narrated to BBC World Service Witness programme what transpired. Dikko returned to Nigeria the following decade. RIP Mr. Dikko.
