EX DEPUTY SENATE PRESIDENT IBRAHIM MANTU BATTLES EX-GOV JOSHUA DARIYE FOR PLATEAU SENATE SEAT...

Both of them were political gladiator of the North Central State of Plateau and they held sway with Ibrahim Mantu in the Senate and Joshua Dariye in the Rayfield Government House in Jos. That was until they parted ways. One of the things that have been suggested as leading to their parting of ways was the fact that Mantu aspired to run for the governorship seat. To succeed Dariye who had ran two terms. Because of this, he wanted to take over the state political structures which were firmly in Dariye’s control. Dariye was said to have resisted and not just that moved against him.

The moves and counter moves led to Mantu instigating Obasanjo against Mantu which led to the EFCC moving against the former Governor. Despite all the moves, Mantu could not get his ambition realized. Indeed, his attempt to return to the Senate was also frustrated as the PDP broke into camps. Eventually one camp headed by Dariye went to form the Labour Party in the state. Dariye and Pauline Tallen as well as a few PDP leaders used the Labour Party to relaunch themselves since they were denied tickets by the PDP.

Dariye ended up in the Senate while Pauline Tallen tried but could not unseat the Governor who was reelected.

Mantu remained back in PDP but his influence has dropped considerably though he still has a lot of money courtesy of his involvement in oil which was a gift for his loyalty to Obasanjo especially during the botched Third Term project. Now he wants to launch a comeback bid for the Senate and the senatorial seat he us targeting is being occupied by no other than Joshua Dariye, his number one political foe.

What makes the contest between the two political big wigs more interesting is the fact that Mantu is a staunch supporter of Jonathan and he is heading one of the Pro- Jonathan bodies but he is a Muslim and some sections of the plateau people have allegedly seen him as one of those championing the crisis in the state in order to continue to make muslims relevant in the politics of the state.