Nigeria’s anti-corruption court handed down one of its heaviest sentences yet on Wednesday. Saleh Mamman, a former Minister of Power under the Muhammadu Buhari administration, was sentenced to 75 years in prison for laundering and diverting N33.8 billion in public funds. The money was supposed to build hydroelectric power plants that millions of Nigerians are still waiting for.
He wasn’t in court to hear the verdict.
Who Is Saleh Mamman?
Saleh Mamman served as Nigeria’s Minister of Power from August 2019 to July 2021. Buhari appointed him as part of a cabinet that came into office promising to fix the country’s decades-long electricity crisis, a promise the administration, like several before it, never came close to keeping.
Mamman was removed from office in 2021 during a cabinet shake-up. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested him four months later. Charges were formally filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja in July 2024, and he pleaded not guilty to all 12 counts.
Before his conviction, he had reportedly filed forms to contest the Taraba State governorship election in 2027 under the All Progressives Congress. That ambition appears to be on indefinite hold.
The Verdict: 12 Counts, 75 Years, No Concurrent Terms
Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja convicted Saleh Mamman on all 12 counts of fraud and money laundering on Wednesday. The sentences were structured as follows:
- Counts 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12: Seven years each, with no option of a fine
- Count 4: Three years, with an option of a N10 million fine
- Count 5: Two years, with no option of a fine
The math adds up to 75 years only because Justice Omotosho ordered that the terms run consecutively, not concurrently. This was a deliberate choice. Had the sentences run concurrently, the effective penalty would have been just seven years, the highest term on any single count.
The judge was direct about why. His verdict noted that the prosecution’s evidence was “overwhelming” and accused Mamman of choosing personal enrichment over public duty at a time when Nigeria’s electricity infrastructure was crumbling.
“Rather than creating a legacy to tackle the epileptic power supply in the country, the defendant was living large at the expense of ordinary citizens,” Justice Omotosho stated.
The sentence takes effect from the date Mamman is apprehended. He is currently at large.
Where Did the N33.8bn Go?
The fraud, as established by the EFCC’s prosecution, centered on money earmarked for two major hydroelectric power projects: the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project and the Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Project.
Both are significant national infrastructure investments. Mambilla, located in Taraba State, has been on the drawing board since the 1970s and is designed to generate 3,050 megawatts of electricity when completed, which would represent a major boost to Nigeria’s current generation capacity. Zungeru, in Niger State, was intended to add 700 megawatts to the grid.
According to the EFCC’s charge sheet, during his time as minister Mamman conspired with officials in the Ministry of Power and unnamed private companies to divert the total sum of N33,804,830,503.73.
The prosecution traced how the money moved:
- Large sums were routed through Bureau de Change (BDC) operators, who converted the funds into foreign currencies before passing them to Mamman and associates.
- Transactions were carried out outside the regulated banking system, in violation of Nigeria’s Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011.
- Properties in Abuja were purchased in cash, bypassing any financial institution.
One transaction that the court examined closely: a cash payment of $655,700, roughly N200 million at the time, made in December 2019 to a company called Mohiba Investment Ltd for a piece of land in Abuja. The payment was made through an associate named Samson Bitrus, with no involvement of a bank or any licensed financial intermediary.
The court also directed Mamman to refund the outstanding balance of the N22 billion the prosecution specifically traced to the Mambilla and Zungeru projects, after the forfeiture of recovered funds and properties.
A Trial That Lasted 671 Days
The case had a winding legal path. Mamman was arraigned in July 2024 and pleaded not guilty. After the prosecution closed its case, his legal team filed a no-case submission in November 2025, arguing the EFCC’s evidence wasn’t strong enough to require him to mount a defence.
Justice Omotosho dismissed that application on December 11, 2025, ruling that the prosecution had established a prima facie case. The judge was careful to note that dismissing the no-case submission was not a declaration of guilt, but there was clearly enough on the record to proceed.
Then Mamman stopped appearing in court.
The judge convicted him in absentia on May 7, 2026, after rejecting the explanations his defence team gave for his continued absence. By the time Wednesday’s sentencing arrived, the former minister was nowhere to be found. The entire trial, from arraignment to sentencing, stretched across 671 days.
Justice Omotosho subsequently ordered all security agencies, including Interpol, to arrest Mamman wherever he is found and transfer him to the Nigerian Correctional Service to begin serving his sentence.
Assets Forfeited
Beyond the prison sentence, the court ordered the final forfeiture of all funds, foreign currencies, and properties linked to Mamman that the EFCC had already recovered, including properties traced to him in Abuja. He was also directed to refund whatever outstanding balance remains from the N22 billion specifically tied to the Mambilla and Zungeru projects.
The court did not disclose the total value of the forfeited assets.
What This Means for Nigeria’s Power Sector
Nigeria generates somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 megawatts of electricity for a population of over 200 million people. The figure varies depending on who you ask and which week you’re measuring. By any calculation, it is grossly inadequate.
The Mambilla and Zungeru projects were meant to chip away at that deficit. Zungeru is now partially operational, though it has faced delays and technical problems. Mambilla, despite decades of planning and billions allocated to it, has barely broken ground.
Corruption is not the only reason for these delays, procurement failures, contractor disputes, and poor project management all play a role. But the Mamman case adds a specific data point to the broader picture: billions that were supposed to go into generating electricity appear to have been siphoned off and converted into foreign currency and Abuja real estate.
There is also a second, separate case still pending against Mamman at the FCT High Court in Maitama, where he faces allegations of diverting an additional N31 billion tied specifically to the Mambilla Power Project. Wednesday’s conviction does not cover those charges.
The Absentia Problem
Mamman’s absence from his own sentencing is not simply an inconvenience. Under Nigerian law, his 75-year sentence cannot begin until he is physically apprehended. He has, in practical terms, bought himself time, though exactly how much time depends on the effectiveness of the Interpol notice and Nigerian security agencies’ ability to track him down.
This pattern, suspects disappearing as verdicts approach, is a familiar one in Nigerian high-profile corruption cases. The legal framework accounts for it through in-absentia proceedings, but enforcement is a different matter. Tracking down a former federal minister with substantial resources, an international network, and presumably foreign currency in hand is not a simple operation.
Interpol’s involvement raises the stakes. Whether that translates into an actual arrest remains to be seen.
Significance of the Conviction
A 75-year sentence for a former cabinet minister, with sentences structured to run consecutively rather than concurrently, is unusual in Nigeria. Courts have tended toward softer outcomes in high-profile corruption cases, either through concurrent sentencing, plea agreements, or drawn-out appeals that outlast public attention.
Justice Omotosho’s decision to impose consecutive terms sends a different signal. So does the specific framing in the judgment, which put the human cost of the diversion at the centre of the verdict: electricity that didn’t get generated, infrastructure that didn’t get built, citizens who kept living under load-shedding while their minister allegedly stashed dollars in Abuja property.
Whether this conviction changes anything systemic about how power sector funds are managed in Nigeria is a separate question, and a harder one. What it does establish, for now, is that a senior government official sat across from a federal court, had his culpability examined for nearly two years, and was found guilty of stealing the money that was supposed to keep the lights on.
