Umaru Dikko (1936-2014)
Former Minister of Transport, Alhaji Umaru Dikko, who died on July 1 at the age of 78, belonged to the vanishing clan of prominent Second Republic politicians who contributed significantly to national development in various capacities.
The departed elder statesman played a great role in the country’s march to national development. Despite some of the controversies that trailed his life, the news of his death in his London home shocked many Nigerians. He was one of the founding members of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) which was the ruling party during that dispensation.
Born on December 31, 1936, Dikko sustained his renowned political leadership of his heyday until recently when he slowed down on grounds of age and ill-health. He strongly believed in the nurturing and consolidation of democratic ideals. The eminent politician was an unrelenting advocate of strong political parties with internal democratic principles, and the supremacy of the party over members’ whims and caprices. These remarkable attributes will ensure his place in the annals of Nigerian politics.
A diligent and influential political strategist, Dikko, through the instrumentality of the NPN, contributed immeasurably to the evolution and rooting of democracy in the country. A testament to his political sagacity and suavity was his commendable chairmanship of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) reconciliation committee. There is no doubt that he would be remembered for a long time because of his laudable input to the development of Nigeria in several ways. Dikko brought colour and panache to all that he did, especially his insistence on the indivisibility and inviolability of the country, amid the controversial declaration that power belongs to the North. This belief and its advocacy pitted him against the Southern part of the country because of its seeming reinforcement of the perceived northern political hegemony in the country.
Dikko was a member of Shagari’s kitchen cabinet, and had allegations of corruption leveled against him by the military junta that sacked that government. He, therefore, relocated to London. His kidnap abroad on July 5, 1984, and the failed attempt to crate him back to the country as “diplomatic baggage” to answer alleged corruption charges, earned the Muhammadu Buhari regime a lot of flaks.
Nevertheless, Dikko was a remarkable politician who was well loved by his people. His passion for socio-economic development of the country is worthy of emulation by all politicians.
He was educated at the Kaduna Elementary School from where he proceeded to Zaria Middle School. He later moved to the famous Barewa College, where he spent six years and passed the Cambridge School Certificate Grade in 1954. He proceeded to the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology (now Ahmadu Bello University), Zaria, with the intention of becoming an engineer. But in 1958, he changed his mind and left to join BBC African Service (Hausa Section). He spent five years working for the BBC before leaving for full-time study at the university and graduated in Mathematics before returning to Nigeria in 1965. He took up employment with an investment company known as NNIL which was jointly owned by the Northern Nigeria Government and Commonwealth Development Corporation. Dikko later became the Commissioner for Finance, Economic Planning, Trade and Industry in the North Central State comprising the present Kaduna and Katsina states. In 1979, he was made Shagari’s campaign manager.
We commiserate with the Dikko family, and his friends and associates on his demise. May Allah grant his soul peaceful repose.
Born on December 31, 1936, Dikko sustained his renowned political leadership of his heyday until recently when he slowed down on grounds of age and ill-health. He strongly believed in the nurturing and consolidation of democratic ideals. The eminent politician was an unrelenting advocate of strong political parties with internal democratic principles, and the supremacy of the party over members’ whims and caprices. These remarkable attributes will ensure his place in the annals of Nigerian politics.
A diligent and influential political strategist, Dikko, through the instrumentality of the NPN, contributed immeasurably to the evolution and rooting of democracy in the country. A testament to his political sagacity and suavity was his commendable chairmanship of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) reconciliation committee. There is no doubt that he would be remembered for a long time because of his laudable input to the development of Nigeria in several ways. Dikko brought colour and panache to all that he did, especially his insistence on the indivisibility and inviolability of the country, amid the controversial declaration that power belongs to the North. This belief and its advocacy pitted him against the Southern part of the country because of its seeming reinforcement of the perceived northern political hegemony in the country.
Dikko was a member of Shagari’s kitchen cabinet, and had allegations of corruption leveled against him by the military junta that sacked that government. He, therefore, relocated to London. His kidnap abroad on July 5, 1984, and the failed attempt to crate him back to the country as “diplomatic baggage” to answer alleged corruption charges, earned the Muhammadu Buhari regime a lot of flaks.
Nevertheless, Dikko was a remarkable politician who was well loved by his people. His passion for socio-economic development of the country is worthy of emulation by all politicians.
He was educated at the Kaduna Elementary School from where he proceeded to Zaria Middle School. He later moved to the famous Barewa College, where he spent six years and passed the Cambridge School Certificate Grade in 1954. He proceeded to the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology (now Ahmadu Bello University), Zaria, with the intention of becoming an engineer. But in 1958, he changed his mind and left to join BBC African Service (Hausa Section). He spent five years working for the BBC before leaving for full-time study at the university and graduated in Mathematics before returning to Nigeria in 1965. He took up employment with an investment company known as NNIL which was jointly owned by the Northern Nigeria Government and Commonwealth Development Corporation. Dikko later became the Commissioner for Finance, Economic Planning, Trade and Industry in the North Central State comprising the present Kaduna and Katsina states. In 1979, he was made Shagari’s campaign manager.
We commiserate with the Dikko family, and his friends and associates on his demise. May Allah grant his soul peaceful repose.
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