JUST IN: Ex-deputy Senate President Dies In Abuja

The Former Deputy Senate President and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ibrahim Nasiru Mantu, is dead.

Mantu died at the age of 74.

Onyxnewnsng gathered that the Plateau born politician died wee hours of Tuesday, at a medical centre in Gudu, Abuja.

“He fell ill about nine days ago and was receiving treatment at home but he was rushed to the hospital when there was no sign of improvement,” the source said adding that the funeral prayer would hold later on Tuesday, in Abuja.

Mantu was one of the notable figures in the nation’s political landscape for many years.

Mantu was born in Chanso village, Gindiri District, Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State on February 16, 1947.

He was elected to the National Assembly as the Senator representing Plateau Central Senatorial district on the platform of the PDP in 1999.

Mantu was appointed Chairman Senate Committee on Information, the position he held till August 10, 2001, when he was elected Deputy President of the Senate.

He was appointed Chairman of Joint National Assembly Constitution Review Committee from 2001 to 2003 and 2003 to 2007 respectively.

Mantu joined politics in 1978. He was elected Deputy State Chairman of NPN in Plateau State in 1980.

He was a founding member of the Liberal Convention. Mantu’s overwhelming popularity saw him contesting the National Chairmanship of the N.R.C. in 1990 but was edged out in a surreptitious power play.

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In 1993, Mantu was the Director-General of the National Republican Convention Presidential Campaign Organisation.

He was elected the National Publicity Secretary of the defunct UNCP in 1998 and was later elected Senator on the platform of the same party. This election was truncated by General Abdusalam Abubakar’s regime.

And in 1999, Mantu was re-elected in a fresh contest as Senator representing Plateau Central Senatorial district on the PDP platform.