July 16, 1984

"They have goofed" - Isyaku

Umaru Dikko Kidnap Drama

Alhaji Isyaku Ibrahim, the NPN businessman who, like his friend Alhaji Umaru Dikko, has been declared a wanted man by the military regime in Nigeria, has reacted with defiance to the kidnap attempt on Alhaji Dikko.

Speaking from the United States of America, Alhaji Ibrahim left no room for doubts at all that the kidnap attempt must have been the work of the Federal Military Government. "They have goofed," he said, "and to think that generals can sit down and plan such a diabolical scheme. One would have thought that as generals they would at least have sophistication!"

They could not even carry out a crude plan successfully, this time they have really goofed and have dragged " Nigeria into the ranks of terrorist countries! That is the problem with soldiers, they have no respect for the law. No civilian government would have done such a dreadful thing." "Anyway, if they think that this will frighten us into silence then they are joking. I definitely will not be and I know he will also not be intimidated by this near tragic event.”

"Why are these soldiers, who are holding guns, so afraid of Umaru who has no arms and whose only weapon is words, and the fact that he is on the side of legality and they are cowardly conspirators?"

"Every day they are saying something about Umaru; in fact they have turned him into an alternative government with their daily references to his supposed activities. I know that he has simply been minding his own business and yet he was supposed to have chaired a 'fugitive' meeting in New York recently, and to think that he is not even in touch with these so-called fugitives.”

"These soldiers are afraid of their own shadows, and it is simply because they have been unable to do anything concrete in more than six months after having seized power."

So I asked him: "what about the warnings from the FMG that you are collecting embarrassing information about members to release through newspapers to destabilize the government?"

"I cannot answer that, if they know that there is some embarrassing information about them to be gathered that is their problem, right now I am just grateful that Umaru is alive.

See also