Ibrahim Mantu, a former Deputy Senate President and Senator from Plateau Central, is died

He died in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Senator Ibrahim Nasiru Mantu was born on February 16, 1947, in Chanso village, Gindiri District, Mangu Local Government Area, Plateau State. From 1955 to 1961, he attended Gindiri Demonstration Primary School and graduated with a First School Leaving Certificate.

He worked as a Stores Requisition Clerk for the Public Works Department (PWD) Jos from 1962 to 1963 before enrolling at Gindiri Teachers College in 1964. After leaving Gindiri in 1967, he worked as a Quality Checker for the Nigerian Tobacco Company in Zaria in 1968. In 1971, he became a Kalamazoo Specialist Salesman for BEAM, a division of UAC Nigeria.

Mantu studied on his own to earn his O’ level GCE and Diploma in Professional Salesmanship, which helped him get a job as a Trainee-Manager at John Holt Ltd. in 1973. Later, he was confirmed as a permanent Manager. Mantu joined John Holt Ltd. Maiduguri Venture as General Manager in 1976. In 1977, he was promoted to Deputy General Manager, Building Materials Division, John Holt Ltd., and relocated to Lagos. In mid-1977, he resigned to become the first Commercial Manager of Plateau State Supply Company Ltd.

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Mantu graduated from Washington International University with a B.A. (Hons.) in Political Science. Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, University of Jos, Madonna University, Okija, and University of Applied Sciences and Management, Port Novo, Benin Republic, all bestowed honorary doctorates on him.

Senator Mantu began his political career in 1978. In 1980, he was elected as the NPN’s Deputy State Chairman in Plateau State.

He was a member of the Liberal Convention from the beginning. Mantu’s massive popularity led to him running for the National Chairmanship of the N.R.C. in 1990, but he was defeated in a covert power play. Mantu was the Director General of the Presidential Campaign Organization of the National Republican Convention in 1993. In 1998, he was elected as the defunct UNCP’s National Publicity Secretary, and later as a Senator on the same party’s platform.

The regime of General Abdusalam Abubakar halted the election. Mantu was re-elected to the Senate in 1999 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to represent Plateau Central Senatorial District.