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The politician imitates the Devil, As the Devil imitates a canon; Wheresoever he comes to do mischief, He comes with his backside towards you. -John Webster Nasir Ibrahim Mantu came to the Senate in 1999 through a dramatic entrance, he was so detested and disliked for his wily attributes, and was said to have won the elections despite these downbeat traits. In 2003, it took an equally tremendous electoral fraud for him to return to the Senate and he knew that he won’t be third time lucky in the rigging conundrum in 2007, which was why he was one of the principal perpetrators of Obasanjo’s third term bid. He put all efforts towards seeing to the success of the third term, having known that he can only salvage any political recognition if Obasanjo got an unconstitutional third term. Despite all his sycophancy and aggressive maneuvers, the third term was ultimately confined into the dustbin of history, and Mantu’s political career is all but over. Little wonder then that in the April 21st National Assembly elections, Mantu was beaten black and blue at the polls by a little known Action Congress candidate, Major Sati Gogwim. His constituency, Plateau Central Senatorial district, was so fed up with his negative antics so much so that they stood firm against any form of rigging and ensured that Mantu was banished from the Senate. Mantu’s unpopularity in the constituency was vividly depicted by a businessman from Mangu LGA, where Mantu hails from, John Daniel, who disclosed to the media that “even if a dog had contested against Mantu, it would have defeated him”. Since he became the
deputy Senate President, Mantu started to demonstrate his greedy and
hypocritical tendencies. Nasir el-Rufa’i was the first to publicly
reveal how Mantu led some conclave of undistinguished senators in
collecting an excess Malicious Mantu was involved in various other scandals, all of which he vehemently denied. He was one of those to swindle Plateau State’s Ecological Fund along with President Obasanjo, Governor Joshua Dariye and the Vice President, Atiku Abubakar. The President has confessed his involvement and has indicated that he has returned his ‘share’ of the windfall. Mantu has denied receiving a kobo, despite Dariye’s claim that Mantu has large chunk of the fund in this bank account. That singular episode might be what made the Governor and Mantu to fall apart, and their indifference made Mantu to instigate the unconstitutional impeachment of Dariye. Michael Bot-mang’s inaugural speech after Dariye was impeached has largely corroborated the allegation of Mantu’s participation in Dariye’s predicament. During the third term imbroglio, Mantu was alleged to be the link-man between the legislature and the President, and he it was that distributed Ghana Must Go full of currency to key figures within the legislature with the intention of enticing them to pass the Bill which would have seen to the desecration of the Constitution to give Obasanjo the chance to continue as President beyond his second and final term. He was said to be very close to the President, he once said he has access to one of the President’s private telephone numbers which even his late wife has not. Despite his entire endeavour, the third term proposal failed woefully. As the country’s controversial Amirul Hajj, Mantu was alleged to have stolen large chunk of the funds allocated to the committee. In the first place he did not have the qualification of been an Amirul Hajj, his appointment was condemned and criticised from many quarters. But Obasanjo, as adamant as ever, insisted on Mantu’s appointment. One other contributory factor to Mantu’s failure in the polls was his initial disapproval as Plateau State’s PDP gubernatorial candidate, Jonah David Jang. Although the difference between the two was said to have been settled prior to the elections, that factor has increased his abhorrence by the people. The result of which is all evident. I was surprised to have heard Mantu blamed ‘external forces’ for his quandary, I wonder who those forces where. If there were any forces behind his ouster, those forces were obviously the people he impoverished while he considers himself a demi-god. Mantu was instrumental in many despicable occurrences while serving in the Senate. Such atrocities were behind his failure and his ultimate eviction from the upper legislative chamber. Now that his dismal political career is extinguished, he will need to confess his various indiscretions and ask for forgiveness from his people, from Nigerians as a whole and from God. People like Mantu astonish me; they don’t seem to have faith in the fact that this world is transitory and that all of us are bound to die, and when we leave this sinful world none of us will be buried with his wealth. In Nigeria many are blinded by the quest to accrue wealth and properties through whatever means, legal or illegal. Such is the bane of Nigeria. What happened to Mantu should be a paradigm to many Nigerians who harbour the illusion that they are infallible and their riches can acquire everything. Mantu’s defeat is been celebrated across the country because he hitherto considered himself unbeatable. After his defeat he told BBC that he resigned his fate to God. Now that he is a monumental failure he has chosen to have faith in God, while on many occasions when he reign supreme he has forgotten that God has forbidden mendacity, high-handedness, sleaze and duplicity. Perhaps it is unfair to recall the words of a famously dissident 19th century British MP, Henry Labouchere, who said of the great William Ewart Gladstone: ‘Every politician sometimes produces an ace from his sleeve, but only Mr. Gladstone would have us believe that the Almighty put it there’. Umar Tanimu Umar Gombe |