Dr. Victor Anyanwu Ph.D | The Social Media Oracle

1984: Nigerian Govt seized a British Caledonian plane carrying 222 passengers and 17 crew members. It was retaliation. Pure tit for tat. Here is what happened, step by step. On July 5, 1984, a team working for the Buhari Government tried to kidnap Alhaji Umaru Dikko in London. Dikko was the former Minister of Transport under President Shehu Shagari. After the coup of December 31, 1983, he fled Nigeria through Benin Republic and Togo, then flew to London. General Buhari regarded him as the most wanted fugitive from the Shagari Government, and accused him of corruption and enriching himself. Instead of asking Britain formally to extradite him, the regime tried to bring him back by force. Dikko was grabbed outside his house at 49 Porchester Terrace, London, drugged by an Israeli anaesthetist, Dr Levi-Arie Shapiro, put in a large wooden crate labelled diplomatic baggage, and driven to Stansted Airport to be loaded onto a Nigeria Airways Boeing 707 cargo plane bound for Lagos. British Customs at Stansted became suspicious. They opened the crate. Inside they found Dikko unconscious, next to the doctor with drugs and syringes. A second crate contained two other men. British police surrounded the Nigeria Airways 707 on the runway, stopped it from taking off, and arrested 17 people in connection with the kidnap, including the crew of the 707 and Nigerian diplomatic staff. Nigeria denied any involvement. The High Commissioner in London said it was the work of some patriotic friends of Nigeria. But Lagos retaliated immediately. Forty five minutes after a British Caledonian Boeing 747 had taken off from Lagos, Nigeria ordered it back for security reasons. It was recalled to Lagos airport, surrounded by military police, and seized. The plane had 222 passengers and 17 crew members on board. The passengers were allowed to disembark and leave the airport, but the plane itself was held. The British Government said in Parliament on July 9, 1984, that the British Caledonian aircraft with its crew and passengers was unlawfully detained by the Nigerian authorities in Lagos from July 5 to July 7. Britain protested strongly in London and in Lagos at this totally unjustified and unlawful act. Britain also protested about the conditions under which the passengers were held at Lagos airport. The Foreign Secretary, Sir Geoffrey Howe, told Parliament: No varied or sufficient reason has been given or exists for the holding of that aircraft. In other words, there was no safety reason, no technical reason, no customs reason. It was a bargaining counter. Nigeria was holding the British plane until Britain released the Nigeria Airways 707 and the people arrested at Stansted. That is exactly what happened. Britain released all but four of the 17 people questioned, and allowed the Nigeria Airways 707 to take off from Stansted. About four hours later, Nigeria released the British Caledonian plane. It left Lagos at 2 pm local time on Saturday, July 7, and arrived back in Britain at about 4.30 am on Sunday morning. The standoff caused the worst diplomatic crisis between Britain and Nigeria in years. Britain expelled two Nigerian diplomats, Peter Oyedele and Okon Edet, and Nigeria expelled British diplomats in return. Diplomatic relations were suspended for two years. So the reason was not that the British Caledonian plane did anything wrong. The reason was Dikko. Nigeria was angry that Britain had foiled the kidnap, seized the Nigeria Airways plane, and arrested its men, so Buhari seized a British plane in Lagos to force a swap. Now You Know.

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