Umaru Dikko Was A Thief, Plain And Simple!

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Kojo Atiso 11 years ago

I can't forget this story it was big.

I can't forget this story it was big.
KOLA, INSIDE LONDON. 11 years ago

Same day I was with wife of Nigerian Ambassador to Russia when he Dikko was rescued.

Same day I was with wife of Nigerian Ambassador to Russia when he Dikko was rescued.
Samsom 11 years ago

He was inlaw to Shagari himself, not Ekewme...

He was inlaw to Shagari himself, not Ekewme...
KT 11 years ago

I didn't know Umaru Dikko died. But this story could have been told better, first he wasn't the bil of Alex Ekweme, but Shagari himself. Then it happened in the 80's. I don't think he would have been executed like we do in ...
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I didn't know Umaru Dikko died. But this story could have been told better, first he wasn't the bil of Alex Ekweme, but Shagari himself. Then it happened in the 80's. I don't think he would have been executed like we do in Ghana, because Nigeria military have never executed anyone from a previous regime on corruption charges. Diko himself returned to Nigeria later to form a political party.
Nana K 11 years ago

I followed the story in the '80s and some aspects that caught my attention were that he accumulated the money by depositing payments for oil into an account for like 3 months and so profited from the interest. I am sure that ...
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I followed the story in the '80s and some aspects that caught my attention were that he accumulated the money by depositing payments for oil into an account for like 3 months and so profited from the interest. I am sure that delayed payments for oil supplied was considered normal.
Another part of the story was how meticulous he was. It was reported that he went for a walk every afternoon. Knowing how sinful he was, we were told he had asked his secretary to call him at regular interval and to call the police in case he Dikko did not respond. It was this timely intervention that saved him.
The last time I read about him was a party he threw to celebrate his second billion, I am sure dollars.
Osei-cph 11 years ago

Wow! how time flies!!! I believe this case happened in 1984. I followed it closely,
while living in Saudi Arabia thru TIME and Newsweek and the BBC radio.

The main people involved in this daring attempt were the ex-MOSSAD ...
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Wow! how time flies!!! I believe this case happened in 1984. I followed it closely,
while living in Saudi Arabia thru TIME and Newsweek and the BBC radio.

The main people involved in this daring attempt were the ex-MOSSAD guy and a Nigerian army major attached to the their HC in London, a certain Major Yusuf.
I believe they managed to make a big box and put him inside.

But we have to ask whether anything has changed in Nigeria in terms of the looting.
Things have worsened since. Remember, Abatcha and co. and the recent allegations by the recently sacked Central Bank governor of $20bn. missing from oil revenues.

What the political class across the continent shd. remember is a day like this shall arrive for every one of us and they won't take a kobo to the grave.

After all where are the Mobutus,Bongos , Eyademas, "emperor"Bokassas etc. etc.
YAW 11 years ago

What a retentive memory for a history teacher? The money bandied about in 1984 was one billion dollars,that said,Dikko was found in crate at Stansted airport.

What a retentive memory for a history teacher? The money bandied about in 1984 was one billion dollars,that said,Dikko was found in crate at Stansted airport.
CS 11 years ago

The man Dikko returned to Nigeria and died there without any "prosecution".

When was he CONVICTED of the "alleged
crimes"?

The man Dikko returned to Nigeria and died there without any "prosecution".

When was he CONVICTED of the "alleged
crimes"?
A K 5 11 years ago

It's a shame that none of you guys have mentioned the Nigerian Military Officer involved. The agent was heavily involved, he deserves credit.

Dikko had been put to sleep for the flight and the Mossad Officer was to help i ...
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It's a shame that none of you guys have mentioned the Nigerian Military Officer involved. The agent was heavily involved, he deserves credit.

Dikko had been put to sleep for the flight and the Mossad Officer was to help in case he (Dikko) woke up.

Dikko was simply lucky. His secretary had observed him - from the Office window - being kidnapped. She alerted the police.

Again the rookie British Customs Officer who insisted that the box be opened was celebrated recently.

Because he was "new" he had to do everything by the book and insisted that because the paperwork was not proper, he will open the box. He was able to convince his boss about this. The Guardian Newspaper interviewed him a couple of months ago. The Customs Officer stopped the return to Nigeria of Umaru Dikko. By a whisker!!!

The whole thing sort of rivals The Entebbe Raid. It should have been turned into a film. It would have been classic.
Pelicles 11 years ago

At times, the "West" will accuse African leaders of being corrupt yet, they aid and abet those who are corrupt. Why did they shield Umaru Dikko all these years? Why didn't they hand him over this thief to the then Nigerian ...
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At times, the "West" will accuse African leaders of being corrupt yet, they aid and abet those who are corrupt. Why did they shield Umaru Dikko all these years? Why didn't they hand him over this thief to the then Nigerian authorities for questioning?

Balderash 11 years ago

They make laws to sanction corruption. U.S Supreme Court says corporations have the right to as individuals so corporations should be allowed to give to political courses? Do corporations vote? The West only talks about corr ...
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They make laws to sanction corruption. U.S Supreme Court says corporations have the right to as individuals so corporations should be allowed to give to political courses? Do corporations vote? The West only talks about corruption in Africa when fruits of the corruption do not flow to their economies. Paul Biya, Nguemma, and the new kleptocrats of Angola and Congo, who supports them?
Kwesi 11 years ago

1. Garri being called The Students' Companion was a term that existed from the 60s. It was not invented by your classmates in the 70s.

2. It is not exactly correct to call St Louis sugar "hard-cubed". The really "hard-cube ...
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1. Garri being called The Students' Companion was a term that existed from the 60s. It was not invented by your classmates in the 70s.

2. It is not exactly correct to call St Louis sugar "hard-cubed". The really "hard-cubed" sugar that Ghanaians of an older generation knew was Tate and Lyle sugar which was imported from Britain and existed in Ghana from the days before independence to much of the 60s. This sugar came in small green packets and was really really hard. It was so hard that it took ages to dissolve in your koko unless you made them soft in plain water before their use in koko. So when St Louis sugar cubes came from France through Senegal, we thought they were very soft and would never describe them as hard-cubed. But, of course, Okoampa, you're too "young" to know this...

3. The book Students' Companion, with a red cover, was something you used more in Elementary School than in secondary school. It was handy in your preparation towards the Common Entrance Exams. If this book was a favourite of yours, then I understand where your love of "big words" comes from...

4. I've seen that your memory of the Dikko attempted abduction may have failed you. You have obviously forgotten the details. Others have pointed some of these out for you.

Btw, yours truly (to use a term beloved by you) was a teacher in Agege when the thing happened. I supposed by then you were already in the US as a young man...
C.Y. ANDY-K 11 years ago

who commented on this post without insulting Kwame. Hope others who come later keep it the same way.

I was also teaching in Nigerian when the event happened. The man was indeed just a plain thief, just many others of his ...
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who commented on this post without insulting Kwame. Hope others who come later keep it the same way.

I was also teaching in Nigerian when the event happened. The man was indeed just a plain thief, just many others of his collegaues! It was high time we stop heaping accolades on such thieves that use their positions in public service to rob their people.

$2bn was also reportedly found in the foreign account of the Secretary of Shagari's party, Akinloye. Lagos State Comm. of Educ. who no one knew to be a millionaire had millions in a Swiss a/c. £800m which was being transferred illegally through the then Midlands Bank was abandoned and the bank informed the Nigeria govt/CBN which did not even notice that such a colossal sum to Ghana was missing! I think Ghana was then grossing just about £1bn both its cocoa and gold proceeds! We Ghanaian teachers predicted ruin for Nigeria and entered into bets with the Nigerian teacher colleagues. by 1985, they had swallowed their pride, as rice and toilet rolls became essencos being shared through schools too!

Andy-K
Kwesi 11 years ago

Yes, going by what you have written on ghanaweb, you were in Oyo State teaching Government to O Level students. Indeed, you were the one to introduce Government in that school, abi?

Yes, the news of the botched abduction a ...
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Yes, going by what you have written on ghanaweb, you were in Oyo State teaching Government to O Level students. Indeed, you were the one to introduce Government in that school, abi?

Yes, the news of the botched abduction attempt was all over Nigeria. I was in Lagos then and I remember reading a good report of it in the Lagos Guardian (a quality newspaper then). Then the now defunct West Africa Magazine also carried a report on it.

But, you remember, what was the biggest discussion topic was how the Nigerians could botch that attempt of bringing Dikko back in a crater. It was like we Africans could never carry out anything successfully even with the help of the Israelis. If the Nigerians had left everything in the hands of MOSSAD, it would have succeeded. Anyway, it was almost successful and I remember it was a very incidental happening that caused it to fail. But you still had to blame the black man for the failure...

As for insulting Okoampa, note that as long as Okoampa limits himself to "neutral" subjects, no one insults him. It is when he is denigrating other tribes and going on as if Akufo-Addo is the best thing that could ever have happened to Ghana and blowing his (Okoampa's) horns that people insult him. No one has problems with him otherwise.
ANDY-K 11 years ago

Kwesi, I was actually in Ondo State, the northern part that is now Ekiti State. Yes, I introduced the teaching of Govt into the school.

Yes, the failure to deliver was what riled a lot Nigerians.

Indeed, Okoampa recei ...
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Kwesi, I was actually in Ondo State, the northern part that is now Ekiti State. Yes, I introduced the teaching of Govt into the school.

Yes, the failure to deliver was what riled a lot Nigerians.

Indeed, Okoampa receive a lot of flank when he devotes his write-up to denigrating other tribes, esp., his nemesis, the "Anlo-Ewes", Nkrumah while praising his Akyem kinsfolk (forgetting that he is also a "citizen of Peki," as he himself put it recently). But I have read a lot pple hurling poisoned darts at him even when he was "neutral". I prefer pple correct him factually and intellectually, rather than just insult him. That's what I attempt to do myself when I bother myself to respond to him.

Andy-K
Kwesi 11 years ago

Yes, you're right that others hurl insults at him even when he is "neutral". But I will argue that it is because of the impression they have of him from his anti-ethnic writings. So it still comes to the same thing: that he w ...
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Yes, you're right that others hurl insults at him even when he is "neutral". But I will argue that it is because of the impression they have of him from his anti-ethnic writings. So it still comes to the same thing: that he wouldn't get so much flak if he were really "neutral" on all things.

Then there is also the fact that no matter what one writes on ghanaweb, there's someone who will insult you.

Okoampa's anti-Ewe stand is surprising, indeed. They say he was once an admirer of Nkrumah until he turned against him. And he now thinks Kotoka, an Anlo man, did the right thing in overthrowing him. Yet that doesn't redeem Ewes for Okoampa. He also talks about his Peki ancestry and they say his present wife is actually Ewe. Yet that doesn't redeem Ewes for him. And Okoampa often refers nostalgically to his appearances on Godwin Avenorgbor's programme on GBC 2. The fact that "Big Gordy" is one of those Okoampa will term "Anlo-Ewe" still does not redeem the tribe for him.

That "Anlo-Ewe" thing he talks about is, btw, of recent origin. I bet you he didn't know the difference until one or two years ago - going by his writings on ghanaweb.

You may want to read my comments to his other article of the day - a letter to one Justin.

Yes, true, you said you were in Ondo state in those days.

I don't know you, Andy, but going by your writings, you may have been a year behind me in Legon. You may have been the year mate of Eric Botta, aka OYOKOBA, who writes from Canada but does not often come here these days. This makes the three of us older than Okoampa and each of us would have taught him in secondary school if he was still in school in the early 80s. And we would have noticed that even then, he was fond of "big English" - what the Nigerians call "grammar"! Interesting...
Marian aisha dikko 11 years ago

My dad is not a thief...

My dad is not a thief...
Asiwome 11 years ago

A chief must not be humble, must not be proud. A chief does not walk, because he is carried by kingmakers. A baby in the womb must not be proud, must not be humble. A baby does not walk because he is carried by baby makers. T ...
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A chief must not be humble, must not be proud. A chief does not walk, because he is carried by kingmakers. A baby in the womb must not be proud, must not be humble. A baby does not walk because he is carried by baby makers. The dead cannot be humble, cannot be proud. The dead are carried by story makers.
GEORGE 11 years ago

KWAME, UMARU DIKKO WAS NOT AN EXCEPTION.

OVER 99.99% OF GHANAIAN AND NIGERIAN POLITICIANS ARE CRIMINALS, BUT I DO NOT BLAME THEM. I BLAME THE WEAK ENFORCEMENT OF CAPITAL OR DEATH
PENALTY PUNISHMENT FOR OFFICIAL
CRIMES. ...
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KWAME, UMARU DIKKO WAS NOT AN EXCEPTION.

OVER 99.99% OF GHANAIAN AND NIGERIAN POLITICIANS ARE CRIMINALS, BUT I DO NOT BLAME THEM. I BLAME THE WEAK ENFORCEMENT OF CAPITAL OR DEATH
PENALTY PUNISHMENT FOR OFFICIAL
CRIMES.

SADLY THE PEOPLE GHANAIANS EXPECT TO
ENFORCE CAPITAL PUNISHMENT ARE ALL
CRIMINALS.

CHINA HAS SUCCEEDED IN APPLYING SUCH PUNISHMENT. WE HAVE A LOT TO LEARN FROM

.

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Umaru Dikko Was A Thief, Plain And Simple!

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