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EFCC Arrests Former Power Minister Saleh Mamman at 3:30am in Kaduna — Convicted Ex‑Minister Had Been in Hiding Since ₦33 Billion Fraud Conviction
Former Minister of Power Saleh Mamman was arrested by EFCC operatives in the early hours of Tuesday after weeks in hiding.
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) finally caught up with former Minister of Power Saleh Mamman in the early hours of Tuesday, May 19, ending a 12‑day manhunt that began the moment a federal judge sentenced him to 75 years in prison. The arrest, carried out at about 3:30am in the Rigasa area of Kaduna State, was swift and silent — the kind of pre‑dawn operation the EFCC reserves for its most wanted.
Mamman had been a ghost since May 7, when Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja convicted him in absentia on all 12 counts of financial misappropriation linked to a ₦33 billion fraud during his time as power minister. The judge had not only handed down the prison term but also directed every security agency in the country — and Interpol — to find him. For 12 days, the former minister evaded that dragnet. It ended in Rigasa, where two other individuals were arrested alongside him, suspected of providing shelter and shielding him from the authorities.
EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede described the arrest in unambiguous terms. "This is a test of the commitment of the Federal Government of Nigeria to the fight against corruption," he said. The statement was both a declaration of victory and a warning. The EFCC had invested significant resources in tracking Mamman, and the fact that he was found on home soil — not in some foreign safe haven — suggests his network of protection was never as airtight as he believed.
Mamman is now in EFCC custody, and the commission has confirmed he will be transferred to the correctional facility where he is to serve his sentence. The arrest of a convicted former minister — one who served at the highest levels of government — sends a signal that the long era of convicts disappearing into thin air may be closing. For the EFCC, it is a signature moment. For the political class, it is a sobering reminder that the law, if given enough time and pressure, can still find its man.
Stay tuned to Unuevbo TV for more on the Mamman case, the EFCC's anti‑corruption drive, and the legal battles shaping Nigeria's accountability landscape.
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