A Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria, has sentenced former Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, to 75 years imprisonment over corruption and money laundering offences involving billions of naira.
The sentence follows his conviction on 12 counts of fraud and money laundering brought against him by Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Justice James Omotosho, who delivered the judgement, ruled that the anti-graft agency had successfully proven the case against the former minister beyond reasonable doubt.
The charges against Mamman included the illegal diversion of public funds amounting to about ₦33.8 billion as well as criminal breach of trust involving monies allocated for the Mambilla and Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Projects.
The court also found him guilty of making a cash payment of $655,700, equivalent to about ₦200 million, for a property in Abuja outside the formal banking system.
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Justice Omotosho ordered that the sentences run consecutively and further directed the former minister to refund the outstanding ₦22 billion linked to the two hydroelectric power projects.
The judgement comes just days after Mamman reportedly picked nomination forms to contest for the governorship of Taraba State ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 general elections on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to the EFCC, the former minister was absent during parts of the court proceedings, but prosecution continued in relation to alleged money laundering offences involving ₦33,804,830,503.73.
Saleh Mamman served as Nigeria’s Minister of Power under former President Muhammadu Buhari from August 2019 until September 2021.
He was removed from office during a cabinet reshuffle carried out by the late former president.
Born on 2 January 1958, Mamman is from Taraba State in northeastern Nigeria.
He obtained a Higher National Diploma in Electrical Electronics from Kaduna Polytechnic in 1988 and later earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Bayero University Kano in 2015.
The case is being viewed as one of Nigeria’s major anti-corruption convictions involving a former senior government official in recent years.
