IN SHORT: Nigeria’s anti-graft agency the EFCC arrested former Minister of Power Saleh Mamman at 3:30am on May 19 in Kaduna, more than a week after he was sentenced in absentia to 75 years in prison for laundering N33.8 billion ($24.65 million) earmarked for two hydroelectric power projects. Two people who sheltered him were also arrested. His 75-year sentence begins from the date he is handed to correctional authorities.
Former Nigerian power minister Saleh Mamman is now in custody after the EFCC tracked him to an apartment in Kaduna’s Rigasa district and arrested him in a pre-dawn operation, ending a fugitive run that had begun the moment his corruption conviction was delivered earlier this month. EFCC chairman Ola Olukoyede confirmed the arrest on May 20, saying Mamman had been under surveillance and was located through his phone. Two individuals arrested alongside him face charges of harbouring a convicted fugitive.
- Mamman was convicted on May 7 by the Federal High Court in Abuja on all 12 counts of money laundering filed by the EFCC, relating to the diversion of funds from the Mambilla and Zungeru hydroelectric power projects. He disappeared before sentencing.
- Justice James Omotosho sentenced him in absentia on May 13 to 75 years in prison across the 12 counts, ordered to run consecutively. The sentences range from two to seven years per count. His sentence clock starts from the date of formal handover to the Nigerian Correctional Service.
- Olukoyede said Mamman had been “protected” while on the run. Authorities are also investigating the property where he was found. The EFCC described the arrest as part of its zero-tolerance posture toward high-level graft.
- Mamman served as Minister of Power from 2019 to 2021 under President Muhammadu Buhari, who campaigned on an anti-corruption platform. He is the first minister from the Buhari administration to be jailed for corruption.
- A separate corruption case against Mamman, also before an Abuja court and involving an additional N31 billion in alleged fraud, remains pending. That court had also issued an arrest warrant after Mamman failed to appear for proceedings.
- Nigeria’s power sector has consumed an estimated N3 trillion or more in public funds over two decades with minimal improvement in electricity access. More than 40% of Nigerians remain off-grid, according to World Bank data.
The Mamman arrest is a meaningful signal from Nigeria’s anti-corruption establishment. High-profile fugitives in Nigeria have historically evaded arrest for extended periods, with some leaving the country entirely. Catching a former cabinet minister within days of his sentencing, in a domestic location, through active surveillance, is an operational result that the EFCC will use to project institutional credibility. Africaspoint covered the sentencing in full when it was handed down: Nigeria minister jailed 75 years for $25m theft. The broader question the case raises is whether the conviction and arrest translate into sustained accountability pressure on the power sector, where the institutional failure runs far deeper than one minister’s conduct.
The Bigger Picture: Nigeria’s electricity problem is not primarily a corruption problem, though corruption has made it worse. The Mambilla hydro project, at the centre of Mamman’s conviction, has been in planning since the 1970s and still has not been built. The Zungeru project did get built, eventually, at significant cost overrun. Both cases illustrate how public funds cycle through the power sector without producing reliable power. Mamman’s 75-year sentence is the most severe handed to a Nigerian official in recent memory. Whether it deters the next generation of officials depends entirely on whether enforcement remains consistent. One high-profile arrest does not change a system. It signals that the system is trying to change itself.
Source: CNBC Africa, May 20 2026 / PM News Nigeria, May 19 2026
