Former Deputy Senate President, late Ibrahim Mantu, has been captured in a viral video confessing how he rigged elections in Nigeria.
Mantu, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party before his death, was a member of the Senate from 1999 to 2007. He had represented Plateau Central Constituency in the upper chamber and emerged Deputy Senate President in 2003.
He died on August 16, 2021, at the age of 74.
Mantu while being interviewed by Maupe Ogun-Yusuf of Channels Television in 2018 said he helped PDP to rig different elections by bribing officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as well as security agents.
The presenter had asked him to confirm his earlier comments hinting that he helped rig elections, to which he replied, “Let me tell you one thing, yes I did. I am now confessing the truth.”
He added, “I don’t have to go and change results but when you provide money, you give money to INEC boys to help if they see any chance that they should favour you. You provide money to the security (agents).
“All our elections in the past, I have been in this game for about 40 years and I tell you each time, it is not necessarily when I am contesting election but when my party sponsors a candidate, I will like the candidate to win an election.
“What we used to do before, we make provisions for INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission), we make provisions for security (agents), we make provisions for even agents of other parties so that they would not raise any objection to whatever we are able to get.
“So, whether I rig myself or not, by providing those resources, financial inducement to the officials, I am rigging.”
Watch the video below:
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