A Nigerian federal court has sentenced former power minister Saleh Mamman to 75 years in prison for laundering 33.8 billion naira (approximately $24.7 million), in what observers are describing as a rare and unusually severe conviction of a senior government official in Africa's most populous nation. The Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice James Omotosho, found Mamman guilty on 12 counts of money laundering and ordered that the sentences for each count run consecutively, resulting in the 75-year total. The court also ordered him to repay 22 billion naira ($16 million).
Mamman, 68, served as Nigeria's minister of power between 2015 and 2021 under former President Muhammadu Buhari and was accused of using private companies and currency exchange bureaux to siphon funds earmarked for government-backed hydroelectric projects. He was sentenced in absentia — having appeared and pleaded not guilty at an earlier hearing in 2024, he failed to appear for both the verdict and sentencing. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigeria's anti-corruption agency, said Mamman had been "out of circulation" and "without trace" since his conviction last week. An arrest warrant was issued on Monday.
The timing of the conviction carries particular irony. Just weeks before sentencing, Mamman had publicly announced his intention to run for governor of Taraba State, a landlocked state in northeastern Nigeria, in the 2027 elections, filing paperwork under the All Progressives Congress. He has not publicly commented on his conviction. He is the first minister from the Buhari cabinet — whose administration came to power in part on an anti-corruption platform — to be jailed for graft. Several other former officials from that government, including a former justice minister, a former central bank governor and a former labour minister, are also facing fraud-related proceedings.
Justice Omotosho was pointed in his remarks at sentencing: "Instead of leaving a legacy to tackle the country's electricity supply problems, the defendant was living large at the expense of ordinary citizens." The case resonates deeply in a country where, according to Transparency International, corruption remains a pervasive problem, and where more than 40 percent of the population has no access to grid electricity, according to World Bank data. Despite being Africa's largest oil producer and fourth-largest economy, Nigeria suffers from chronic power shortages driven by an ageing grid and insufficient generating capacity, forcing millions of households and businesses to rely on expensive fuel-powered generators.
The verdict is being watched closely as a test of whether Nigeria's anti-corruption institutions can deliver meaningful accountability at the highest levels of government. While the EFCC has pursued several prominent investigations in recent years, convictions of serving or former ministers remain exceptional. With Mamman still at large and an arrest warrant outstanding, the case is far from over — but the sentence itself has already reignited public frustration over years of broken promises on electricity reform.