Senator Ibrahim Mantu, having taken a long hiatus from active politics, after his very humbling defeat to Senator Joshua Dariye in 2011, appears to be making a daring come back to the politic scene. His recent actions and utterances show a man who is not quite ready to bow out of Plateau politics just yet, but is scheming his way back to the National Assembly.

As the then Deputy Senate President, Mantu attained notoriety for his failed bid to actualise former President, Olusegun Obasanjo’s third term bid. As a consequence of that failure, he fizzled out from public consciousness and went off to “lick his wounds”, while he remained in political oblivion.

Senator Ibrahim Mantu, having taken a long hiatus from active politics, after his very humbling defeat to Major Sati Gogwim (then sponsored by Senator Joshua Dariye) in 2011, appears to be making a daring come back to the politic scene. His recent actions and utterances show a man who is not quite ready to bow out of Plateau politics just yet, but is scheming his way back to the National Assembly.

As the then Deputy Senate President, Mantu attained notoriety for his failed bid to actualise former President, Olusegun Obasanjo’s third term bid. As a consequence of that failure, he fizzled out from public consciousness and went off to “lick his wounds”, while he remained in political oblivion.

Following the brutal squashing of the third term bid by opposition politicians, religious leaders and Northern stalwarts etc, Mantu put the defeat behind him and began strategizing on how to perpetuate late President Musa Yar’Adua in office despite the presidents critical health condition. To this end, Mantu cleverly formed a splinter Northern Elders Forum and championed the cause of making sure Yar’Adua was not replaced by Goodluck Jonathan. He mobilized influential figures under his group and got them to throw their support behind his agenda, claiming the indisposed and critically ill president was in good health to carry on leading the country.

Under the aegis of his group, the Northern Elders Forum, Mantu was given several millions by the sister of the ailing President to organise a World Press Conference. And he did at the Shehu Musa Yaradua centre Abuja in 2008 where he warned Nigerians, particularly Northerners not to permit Jonathan who was the then Vice President, to assume office.

With the death of Musa Yar’Adua, Mantu lost out and he therefore suffered the consequences of his actions. He was essentially frozen out by the Presidency of President Goodluck Jonathan. And when it came for him to re-contest his seat in the National Assembly, several politicians in Plateau (including PDP, ACN, AD politicians) all put their political differences aside and worked together to ensure he lost at the polls. These politician said they wanted to “teach him a lesson” because of his delusion, arrogance and contempt to Plateau Elders. They alleged that he made statements claiming to be the God-Father of Plateau politics and that he diabolically hoodwinked Obasanjo to impose a state of emergency on Plateau. They also fingered him as the grand architect for taking House of Assembly legislators to Abuja, making them renounce Dariye under duress and finally bringing them back to Jos under tight security to impeach the then Governor. People say these actions by Mantu were part of his plans to wrestle power from the traditional power brokers in Plateau –and this to them was unacceptable.

Today, the story is different! Mantu is already making his way back to the political scene. And given how desperate Goodluck Jonathan is in trying to stabilise the polity, in order to actualise his 2015 ambition –he (GEJ) appears to be looking for any persons who can help him actualise this. Mantu fits that bill perfectly. He is afterall a man who Obasanjo entrusted with his third term bid. A man who also led Yar’Adua’s PR and political machinery when there was crisis of succession. He definitely seems to be the right man for GEJ in his very desperate situation of trying to Navigate the country during this rife crisis situtuation, when Boko Haram have battered his reputation and people are saying they would vote APC because of his ineptitude. As such, it appears GEJ needs Mantu in his team for 2015, and in turn He Mantu needs GEJ’s favour and backing to actualise his political comeback.

Mantu is already warming his way back into mainstream politics by courting the favour of President Goodluck Jonathan using his PDP Reload Forum. And to reward such loyalty, GEJ recently nominated him as a Federal delegate to the recent National Conference in Abuja. Sources close the Former Deputy Senate President say that he is warming up to challenge Senator Joshua Dariye for the Senate Seat, because of alleged assurances given to him by GEJ that if he is elected, he would be made Senate President. As it stands, Mantu is still a PDP member and so is allowed to re-contest the seat under the banner of the party. Other former members of the party like Senator Joshua Dariye however, defected to the LP and have not yet been allowed back into the party by Gov. Jonah Jang. If these people are still shut out to the party –Mantu could begin thanking God for his luck. However, we do not believe it would be an easy sail for him, given that people are weary of his antecedents and he may face the same challenges as in the past. That said, a lot of people have also missed his over-brearing influence on the Federal Scene –where he was able to get a lot of Plateau people appointed to boards and parastatals –sit tight, belt up and lean back for an interesting ride ahead of the 2015 elections.
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2015: Ibrahim Mantu strategising to run for the Senate