Nigeria’s anti-graft agency has arrested former Power Minister Saleh Mamman in Kaduna state, weeks after he was convicted in absentia and sentenced to 75 years in prison for fraud.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said Mamman was taken into custody about 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday in the Rigasa area of Kaduna.
EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede said two other people found with him at the property were also arrested and are under investigation for allegedly harbouring a convict.
“We have discovered that he was actually being protected all this while,” Olukoyede told reporters at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja. “The eagle eye of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission will always catch up with you wherever you are hiding.”
was convicted on May 7 on all 12 counts of fraud brought by the EFCC. Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja sentenced him in absentia to seven years each on 10 counts, three years on one count, and two years on another. The sentences are to run consecutively without the option of a fine, except for one count which carries a ₦10 million fine.
The court also ordered the forfeiture of foreign currency recovered from the former minister and four properties in Abuja traced to him. It directed all security agencies to work with Interpol to ensure his arrest, ruling that the sentence would take effect from the date of arrest.
Olukoyede said the arrest demonstrated the government’s commitment to pursuing corruption cases.
Also Read: Tinubu nominates Tegbe as minister of power
“This is a test of the commitment of the federal government of Nigeria to the fight against corruption in Nigeria, and to assure Nigerians that anyone who has pilfered government national resources will not go unpunished,” he said.
Mamman served as minister of power from 2019 to 2021. He is now in EFCC custody.
The Conclave
