Why Nigeria kidnaps its own

Press, 21 July 1984, Page 18

Why Nigeria kidnaps its own

DAVID PALLISTER and AD’OBE OBE,

of the “Guardian,” report on Nigeria’s elite in exile

and why the former Nigerian Minister of Transport should be found at a British airport drugged in a crate marked as diplomatic luggage.

Discarding his richly-embroid-ered traditional agbada, or pillbox hat, Dr Umaru Dikko, one of Nigeria’s wealthiest and certainly most powerful men, ignominiously slipped across the bush border into Benin two days after the New Year’s Eve military coup. He took with him many of the secrets that could explain how an elite band of Nigerians had in four years acquired personal wealth of spectacular proportions. In the days that followed the coup, Nigerians cynically puzzled over the news that the general’s most wanted men had been able to

escape. There was Isyaku Ibrahim, the financial Mr Fix-it of President Shagari’s National Party of Nigeria, who normally spent his time commuting in his private Gulfstream 111 jet between luxury homes in New York, London, Monrovia and Lagos. There was Dr Joseph Wayas, president of the Senate, who now runs a business consultancy between Beverly Hills and New Jersey and owns a mansion in Hampstead. And Chief Augustus Akinloye, the N.P.N. chairman, who has denied allegations of economic sabotage and says he is staying out of Nigeria for health reasons. But the most wanted man was Umaru Dikko, Minister of Trans-

port, chairman of last year’s presidential re-election campaign and, as brother-in-law of the self-effac-

ing Shagari, the man who effectively controlled the disbursement

of Nigeria’s fabulous oil income.

It was he who masterminded 500 million naira of imports in Shagari’s efforts to cut prices and end chronic shortages. Tonnes of the stuff, especially rice, was later discovered by the military in hoarders’ warehouses.

The Nigerian Government has alleged that he stole $2.6 billion. Dr Dikko’s response has been: “Whatever money a politician makes goes back to the people because he wants their votes. The military are talking about money because they can only think of their own bank accounts.”

Within the civilian administration and the N.P.N. he was feared and disliked. His influence over the president was resented and his power made subordinates cringe. To visiting and Nigerian journalists alike he was not above making sardonic insinuations that unfavourable stories would reap their own unpleasant rewards. To allegations of ballot rigging during the elections he had a dismissive smile.

Given seven days to present themselves to the authorities, most politicians and officials complied and were placed under arrest More than 500 were detained and only now are they beginning to appear before military tribunals, held in secret, with minimum penalties of 21 years in prison. That, presumably, would have been the fate of Dr Dikko had the kidnap attempt succeeded. But many Nigerians believe that the plot was also to ensure his silence

about previous military skulduggery.

In the first weeks of the military Government, the issue of the wanted men — how they escaped and allegations of their corruption — was the all-consuming topic of Lagos conversation and Nigerian newspaper editorials. Dreadful punishments, including torture, were advocated. Had Major General Muhammadu Buhari, the new head of state, then dispatched his squads around the world, he would have been applauded. Dr Dikko and Isyaky Ibrahim fuelled Nigerians’ rising passion for retribution. From Europe and the United States they mounted a public attack on the military rulers — accusing them of subvertion and lining their own pockets. Dr Dikko hinted at an armed response. with unintentional irony he suggested that the predominantly northern, Muslim officers were simply politicians in uniform — part of that ill-defined “Kaduna maffia” that had dominated the N.P.N. and the former military regime. The exiles certainly kept in touch during their trans-Atlantic comings and goings. Two months ago Dr Dikko is alleged to have chaired a gathering in New York. The generals in Lagos, with as

yet unspecified evidence, have interpreted their bile, their outside wealth and their continuing influ-

ence among some sections of the country as a very real threat.

Dr Umaru Dikko, once Nigeria’s Oil Minister and president of O.P.E.C. He is said to have stolen $2.6 billion while in office before the country’s last military coup. On two occasions, members of the Supreme Military Council have claimed that the exiles were planning to overthrow the regime. Dr Ibrahim Gambari, the Foreign Minister, told a press conference in London in March that they were bankrolling a $3OO million plan to recruit a mercenary army. Last month the Information Minister claimed to. have uncovered a plot, led by Dr Dikko, to reveal embarrassing information about the Government. At first the generals considered making extradition requests but the nature of the military tribunals effectively cancelled this option. The Nigerian Bar Association has boycotted them because they are held in camera, with no appeal, and with a judge who acts only as an adviser to the Supreme

Military Council. The minimum X sentence of 21 years is considered * even by many Nigerians as being Z particularly harsh and inflexible. ’

As General Buhari said in one of the first interviews: “Some people ~ are more corrupt than others." *» The “National ’ Concord,” * Nigeria’s leading daily, com- •> mented: “The legal procedures for ; trying the fugitives and the politi-1-cal detainees don’t appear to sat- < isfy internationally accepted principles of justice and due processes.” '

The paper rightly predicted that “the fugitives will argue that their trial in absentia, under which they • might be found guilty, did not satisfy the principles of justice.” - There has been further disquiet ? in Nigeria about the apparently . partisan selection of politicians in ; the first sittings of the Recovery of .. public property and the Exchange * Control (Anti-Sabbtage) Tribunals. ’ So far, only one N.P.N- former ■ governor, Meftord Okilo, and he an . outsider from the southern state of Rivers, has been tried. The six " other convicted governors are all ■» from the opposition parties. » Equally disturbing has been the - conviction and one year sentences imposed on two senior Nigerian journalists by the Public Officers * (Protection Against False Accusa- » tion) Tribunal. Their crime was : the publication of a report about • diplomatic postings. Whatever sympathy is being generated for the. former civilian - politicians, the capture of Umaru * Dikko would have been seen as a brilliant and justifiable adventure. ’! Despite their threats against an “irresponsible” press, they are going to have a lot to answer for.