Elders Broker Peace Between Mantu, Dariye
From Funmi Peter-Omale in Jos
The frosty relationship between the suspended Governor of Plateau State, Chief Joshua Dariye, and the Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu has gained the attention of prominent Nigerians and elders of the state who have now stepped in to reconcile the two former political associates.
The proclamation of a state of emergency on Plateau and the suspension of Dariye has been allegedly being the handiwork of Mantu to ease out the latter after the two fell out. It is generally believed in the state that the deputy senate president orchestrated the whole thing even as it is believed in some quarters that he was in a position to ward it off even if he had not been a party to it.
But information gathered at the weekend in Jos indicated that some prominent Nigerians are making frantic efforts to reconcile the two as a way of finding a lasting peace in the state as well as a quick and peaceful restoration of democratic structures.
THISDAY gathered that in the last two weeks, several reconciliatory meetings have been held in Abuja and Jos respectively where the two personalities were allowed to express their minds and disclose precisely where one had wronged the other.
An elder, who was part of the meetings but do not want his name in print, confirmed that the meetings have yielded positive result, saying the deputy senate president and Dariye are expected to make public pronouncement after a scheduled meeting at the former's official residence this week.
Unconfirmed reports stated that the Abia State Governor, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, has waded into the face-off between the two in order to find lasting peace to the crises in the state.
President Olusegun Obasanjo's proclamation on May 18 came as a huge surprise to many Plateau indigenes because the information had filtered to town that the deputy senate president was interceding on behalf of the state government for Federal Government not to make any harsh pronouncement on the state. But subsequent events have revealed a lot of unpalatable political manouvres even to the extent that some people are allegedly canvassing for an extension of the emergency rule.
The president has however maintained that the "citizens of the state would determine where we go from here. I believe that the emergency rule be allowed to run its full course," he said when he came on a two-day working visit to the state two weeks ago
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