Ibrahim Mantu, former Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate, has died at the age of 74.
Family sources confirmed that Mantu passed away on Tuesday in a private hospital in Abuja, where he had been receiving treatment for a few days.
Funeral prayers were scheduled to take place the same day at the Apo Legislative Mosque in Abuja.
Mantu’s political career spanned over four decades. He began his journey in 1978 and rose to become Deputy State Chairman of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in Plateau State in 1980.
He was a founding member of the Liberal Convention and in 1990 contested unsuccessfully for the national chairmanship of the National Republican Convention (NRC).
In 1993, he served as Director General of the NRC’s Presidential Campaign Organisation. Later, he joined the defunct United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP), becoming its National Publicity Secretary in 1998 and was elected senator under the same party platform.
Although the transition to civilian rule under General Abdulsalami Abubakar led to the dissolution of UNCP, Mantu returned to the Senate in 1999 under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), representing Plateau Central.
During his time in the Senate, Mantu chaired the Senate Committee on Information before being elected Deputy Senate President on August 10, 2001. He held the position until 2007.
He also chaired the Joint National Assembly Constitution Review Committee and the Policy Analysis and Research Project (PARP), which later evolved into the National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS).
At various points, Mantu undertook key executive functions despite his role as a legislator. Until his death, he was a member of the Board of Trustees and National Executive Committee of the PDP.
