How Mantu was dismantled

How Mantu was dismantled 29/7/2008

The bid of former Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu to return to the Senate suffered a major setback on Saturday, as he was defeated by the Action Congress candidate, Satty Gogwim. From Jos, PAM AYUBA writes on how various forces teamed up against Mantu to ensure his defeat. The polls had been closed. But, the results were yet to be officially released. Yet, his country home in Gindiri was populated by people wearing long and gloomy faces. From a distance, one could sense that already there was acceptance of defeat. There was an unusual silence in the large compound built on a large expanse of land, that houses more than five different structures of different styles. Before the re-run election in the Central Senatorial district last Saturday, the owner of the house, former Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu was sure of returning to the National Assembly. The second chance provided by the Court Appeal’s order of June 16, 2008, which annulled Satty Gogwim’s election was what Mantu needed to make a bodl bid to return to political relevance. But he missed it, as Gogwim won the seat for the second time in less than two years. He thus lost another chance of representing the Plateau Central Senatorial district, which is made up of five of the 17 local government areas of the state. They are Kanke; Pankshin; Mangu; Kanam and Bokkos. The zone has a population of 952,392 people out of which there are 465,738 registered voters, according to the latest 2006 census figures and INEC statistics. The court of appeal under Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa had, on June 16, 2008, held that the lower court was right when it ruled that INEC was wrong in its decision not to include Zainab Abdulmalik of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) in that election. It therefore ordered the electoral body to conduct fresh elections in the senatorial district within 90 days. And in compliance, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted the election last Saturday. The golden opportunity provided by that re-run election could not redeem Mantu’s dwindling political fortunes. It also made nonsense of his claim of being the "Ultimate Leader" as voters humbled him in his central senatorial district. Results of the bye-elections as announced by the returning officer, Ndechi Okechukwu showed Mantu of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, polling 103,513 votes to place second to Senator Gogwim of the Acton Congress, AC, who polled 141,297 to retain the seat he won April last year. Okechukwu announced the outcome of the elections at exactly 6:30am last Sunday after all the five local government areas that participated in the re-run election had submitted their results. In Mangu, Mantu’s home local government, Gogwim was returned with total votes of 32,685 to Mantu’s 30,977, showing a difference of about 1,708 votes. In Kanke and Pankshin local government areas, where Gogwim has dominance due to ethnic considerations, Mantu was squarely rounded up as Gogwim scored 31,489 to 6,158 and 37,307 to 19,041 respectively. In Kanam, Mantu took the day as he polled 34,685 to Gogwim’s 20,708 while in Bokkos Gogwim polled 19,108 to beat Mantu who scored 12,667 votes. Since the announcement of the results, not a few have wondered how Gogwim did it. The Nation learnt that several forces teamed up to ensure Mantu was defeated. In the forefront of the forces against Mantu was former governor Joshua Dariye from Bokkos local government area. Dariye personally led the AC campaign. In all the five local government areas that the campaign train went, a large turn out of party supporters came to welcome the Dariye-led team, despite the heavy down pour witnessed in most of the campaign grounds. The situation was not so with Mantu, where in some instances only a few "hired-crowd" were seen scantily showing support for the former deputy senate president. Dariye, while addressing party supporters, said: "Plateau State needs peace and for such peace to be attained, the likes of Mantu can not be entrusted with leadership position as he still has an unfinished business to achieve." "Mantu is an impeachment senator," Dariye said in one of his campaign speeches in Mangu, Mantu’s home local government area. He told party loyalists that those who still believe in him should not vote Mantu as anyone who does that has "betrayed him". The former governor said voting Mantu was like voting for the impeachment of Jang, a situation he said he does not like. He said he would not allow anybody to go through what he passed through. "Plateau state needs development not impeachment," he said. The presence of Dariye throughout the re-run campaigns of Gogwim did not only add impetus but was an indication that the rivalry between him and Mantu was far from being over as earlier speculated. Weeks after the appellate court up-held the judgment of the lower tribunal, romance between supporters of Dariye and Mantu became the talk of the town. In some quarters, it was held that the two had reconciled and were always seen eating together and exchanging banters. However, supporters of the two camps soon engaged themselves in physical combats. In Mangu local government, for instance, Mantu’s supporters known as "Mantu Vanguard" allegedly destroyed cars that were on the convoy of the AC candidate and beat one person to a state of coma. The situation was worse in both Pankshin and Kanam where supporters of the two main parties displayed political intolerance. The voting pattern at the election shows that in Mangu local government area where he hails from, voters voted based on religious sentiments. Mangu is made of over 85 percent Christians with the dominant tribe being the Mwagavwuls. In Bokkos, the Dariye factor played a role in dismantling Mantu. Though, religious sentiment could not be outrightly ruled out, the people of Bokkos are still very bitter with the former Deputy Senate President for his role in the ‘illegal impeachment’ of their son, Dariye. In Pankshin local government, ethnicity and religion played a significant role in the defeat of Mantu. This was the same with Kanke, home local government to Gogwim. However, in Kanam, where there is a large concentration of Muslims, Mantu won. Whatever the factors that led to his defeat, Mantu may need to do a lot to oil his political machinery if he wants to remain relevant in the politics of the state.