The dramatic evasion of justice by Nigeria’s former Minister of Power, Engr. Saleh Mamman, came to a grinding halt in the early hours of Tuesday, May 19, 2026. Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) breached a heavily guarded safehouse in the Rigasa suburb of Kaduna State, arresting the former minister who had been on the run following his landmark multi-billion naira corruption conviction.
The operation, executed with clinical precision at exactly 3:30 a.m., brings an end to a high-stakes manhunt that began earlier this month when Mamman stopped appearing in court, forcing the judiciary to pass its ultimate judgment in his absence.
The Breakdown of the Capture
Addressing a packed press gallery at the anti-graft agency’s corporate headquarters in Jabi, Abuja, the Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, detailed the strategic surveillance that led to the midnight breakthrough.
“I am happy to announce to Nigerians that at about 3:30 a.m. this morning, our operatives arrested Mr. Saleh Mamman somewhere in Rigasa, Kaduna State,” Olukoyede stated, displaying visible satisfaction. “This arrest is a testament to the fact that under this administration, the eagle eye of the EFCC will always catch up with those who pilfer national resources, no matter where they hide.”
According to senior intelligence sources involved in the raid, the EFCC had deployed advanced digital tracking and local human intelligence networks after a Federal High Court in Abuja issued an international bench warrant. Mamman was not alone; the anti-graft agency also arrested two other Nigerian citizens inside the property.
“We discovered that he was actually being protected and insulated from justice all this while,” the EFCC boss explained. “The individuals found with him have been taken into custody for protecting a convicted fugitive. Furthermore, the owners of the property are under active investigation. It is a severe statutory crime under Nigerian law to harbor or give protection to a convict.”
A 75-Year Shadow of Conviction
The arrest marks the culmination of a legal battle that began in earnest when the EFCC slammed a comprehensive 12-count charge of money laundering, criminal breach of trust, and diversion of public funds against the former minister. The prosecution proved that Mamman, alongside complicit ministry officials and front companies, systematically diverted over ₦33.8 billion earmarked for the development of the strategic Mambilla and Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Projects.
On May 7, 2026, Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, found Mamman guilty on all 12 counts. Due to the defendant’s suspicious disappearance during the final stages of the trial, sentencing was deferred. On May 13, 2026, Justice Omotosho handed down a crushing combined sentence of 75 years imprisonment without an option of a fine, ordering law enforcement agencies to liaise with Interpol to bring the fugitive to account.
The court explicitly stipulated that the 75-year prison term—comprising seven years each for ten distinct counts, alongside additional consecutive terms—will officially commence running from the exact day of his physical arrest.
Siphoned Power, Hidden Wealth
Beyond the custodial sentence, the court ordered the absolute forfeiture of multiple foreign currencies recovered from the former minister during initial raids, alongside four ultra-luxury choice properties situated in elite districts of Abuja.
The case against Mamman has been one of the most heavily scrutinized trials involving officials from the previous political dispensation. Appointed to head the critical power ministry in August 2019, Mamman was unexpectedly sacked during a cabinet shake-up in September 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari, amid escalating national frustration over grid collapses and unexecuted infrastructure targets.
EFCC investigators later uncovered that the billions meant to catalyze Nigeria’s renewable and hydro-energy transition were instead laundered through real estate acquisitions and complex cash transactions, including an $655,700 cash payment routed outside conventional financial institutions.
With Mamman currently processing through the EFCC’s holding facility, legal teams are preparing the necessary paperwork to transfer the convict directly to a Nigerian Correctional Service maximum-security facility to begin serving his term.
