Charlez Okafor
Sadly, there was one snag. Dikko's secretary, Elizabeth Hayes, saw the whole thing and quickly notified the authorities.
The fact that the UK authorities knew who Dikko was, and that he was wanted in Nigeria, raised vigilance at their borders.
Meanwhile, the drugged and unconscious Dikko was loaded on a crate with Dr. Shapiro, while the Mossad agents were in another.
Here, another snag came up. Group Captain Bernard Banfa, who would become head of Nigeria Airways, failed in his task.
Banfa was meant to meet with Yusufu and Shapiro before they arrived at Stansted, to give diplomatic papers. He never showed up.
Given the kind of cargo that they had, Yusufu and Shapiro decided to go ahead with the flight anyway and go to the airport.
Having been warned by the security forces to be on the look out, customs officers were unusually inquisitive and vigilant.
A customs officer, Charles Morrow, noticed an unusual chemical smell from one of the crates and had it forced opened.
Inside, was a tied-up and unconscious Umaru Dikko, with his minder, Shapiro. Abithol and Barak were in the second crate.
Dikko was taken to hospital, and woke up 36 hours later with no knowledge of all the drama that had happened in that time.
The incident led to a diplomatic standoff between Nigeria and Britain, which lasted for two years, and a huge court case.
Afterwards, Barak got 14 years, Yusufu got 12 years, Shapiro and Abithol got 10 years each. They were all deported on release.
After the Dikko Affair, Britain as a matter of unofficial policy refused Nigerian requests for extradition in corruption cases.
The consequence of this was that Nigeria's war on corruption fell apart as Britain became a safe haven for corrupt officials.
Requests by the Buhari government to extradite Richard Akinjide and Adisa Akinloye were refused by the Thatcher government.
Dikko lived in London for 12 years after the incident, and was invited back to Nigeria by the Abacha government.
He participated in the 1995 Constitutional Conference that recommended Abacha as a sole presidential candidate for 5 parties.
Umaru Dikko was also a founding member of the Arewa Consultative Forum, and finally, head of the PDP's disciplinary committee.
As we all know, Dikko died in a London hospital earlier this week, while a lot of his fellow Nigerians can't get healthcare.
The men who participated in his kidnap refused to speak about it, except Barack who gave an interview. Banfa got rewarded.
It was this same Banfa, who eventually presided over the demise of Nigeria Airways. Yusufu returned to Nigeria to obscurity.
For his role in depriving millions of Nigerians of food, and an economy, I wish Umaru Dikko burn in hell for ever.
#HistoryClass is over.
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