One time Minister of Transportation in the second republic, Alhaji Umaru Dikko is dead. He was 78. He died early Tuesday in a London hospital.
His son, Dr. Bello Dikko has already confirmed that his father has indeed passed on. He said his father has been sick for “quite some time” and has suffered stroke three times.
Born 1936 in Wamba, he was an adviser to President Shehu Shagari. He was also the Nigerian minister for Transportation from 1979-1983.
In 1979, he was made Shagari’s campaign manager for the successful presidential campaign of the National Party of Nigeria(NPN). During the nation’s Second Republic, he played prominent roles as transport minister and head of the presidential task force on rice.
A military coup on December 31, 1983 overthrew the government of Shagari, forcing Dikko into exile in London. The new military regime accused him of large-scale corruption while in office, in particular of embezzling millions of dollars from the nation’s oil revenue.