A former deputy president of the Senate, Ibtrahim Mantu, is dead.
He is said to have been sick for days and died in isolation at a private hospital in the federal capital territory (FCT) at the age of 74.
“He has been ill occasionally for some time and when he came to Jos last weekend, the illness started again and he was rushed to the hospital. Unfortunately, he could not make it. We will miss him,” a family source in his home town of Mangu, Plateau State, said.
His close associate and former Commissioner for Information in Plateau State, Yiljap Abraham, who expressed sadness over his demise, described the senator as an open minded communal and national politician who operated beyond religious and ethnic bounds.
In his autobiography released in 2020, Orji Kalu, former Abia governor, said Mantu was the true hero in the efforts to stop the third term agenda of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2006.
The bill to amend the 1999 constitution and extend the presidential term limit by another four years had failed to pass at the national assembly.
According to the ex-Abia governor, Mantu, then-chairman of the senate constitution review committee, worked against the agenda behind the scene.
“Mantu was the one who scuttled the third term, and in doing so, he incurred Obasanjo’s eternal hatred. So Nigerians should celebrate him,” Kalu had said.
