{"id":1945046,"date":"2026-05-20T08:04:03","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T05:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1945046"},"modified":"2026-05-20T08:04:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T05:04:03","slug":"saleh-mamman-nigeria-arrests-former-minister-in-hiding-after-conviction-for-corruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1945046","title":{"rendered":"Saleh Mamman: Nigeria arrests former minister in hiding after conviction for corruption"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/a8a2\/live\/048eed20-5418-11f1-8e76-013556ab836b.jpg”]<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\"EFCC\/XEFCC\/X<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Authorities said they wanted to ensure Mamman served his sentence<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency says it has arrested former Power Minister Saleh Mamman a week after he was sentenced to 75 years in jail on corruption charges.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said Mamman was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday in the northern Kaduna state after “weeks of surveillance and intelligence gathering”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

In a statement, the agency said the former minister had gone into hiding after being convicted by a court in the capital Abuja earlier this month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

Mamman was found guilty on 12 counts related to the diversion of funds meant for two hydroelectric power projects.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

The court ruled that prosecutors had proved their case beyond reasonable doubt. He was sentenced in absentia after failing to appear in court.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

His arrest on Tuesday marks a rare follow-through in the fight against high-level corruption, with convictions of top officials uncommon in the West African nation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

EFCC chairman Ola Olukoyede said authorities were determined to ensure the former minister served his sentence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

“For us, getting the convict to serve his jail terms is extremely important in view of the seriousness with which we are tackling corrupt practices,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

The judge who ruled on his case said during the trial that the EFCC had shown that Mamman and his associates diverted at least 22bn naira ($14m; \u00a310m) intended for critical electricity projects.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

The judge described the diversion of public funds as a gross abuse of public trust and said proxy companies and associates were used to siphon money from the projects.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

The former minister was sentenced for multiple prison terms across the charges, which are to run consecutively, making it to a total of 75 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

He also faces a separate corruption trial in Abuja over allegations of fraud involving 31bn naira. Earlier this month, another judge issued a warrant for his arrest after he failed to appear in court in that case.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

Mamman served as Nigeria’s power minister between 2019 and 2021 under former President Muhammadu Buhari.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

His conviction has sparked outrage over Nigeria’s lingering electricity problems, especially as he had promised to improve power supply while in office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

Despite being one of Africa’s biggest energy producers, Nigeria still faces frequent blackouts and power cuts which affect homes and businesses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

Many people rely on fuel generators for electricity, but rising fuel costs have made this increasingly difficult.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

More about Nigeria from the BBC:<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\"GettyGetty Images\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

Go to <\/i>BBCAfrica.com<\/i> for more news from the African continent.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

Follow us on Twitter <\/i>@BBCAfrica<\/i>, on Facebook at <\/i>BBC Africa<\/i> or on Instagram at <\/i>bbcafrica<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cdjpn378mvvo”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/a8a2\/live\/048eed20-5418-11f1-8e76-013556ab836b.jpg”] EFCC\/X Authorities said they wanted to ensure Mamman served his sentence Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency says it has arrested former Power Minister Saleh Mamman a week after he was sentenced to 75 years in jail on corruption charges. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said Mamman was arrested in the early hours […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-1945046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1945046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1945046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1945046\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1945046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1945046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1945046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}