Dikko Affair

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, 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.

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.

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