PHOTO NEWS: EFCC arrests fleeing ex-Power Minister Saleh Mamman in Kaduna
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested former Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, who was recently sentenced in absentia to 75 years in prison over alleged involvement in multi-billion-naira fraud.
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, disclosed the arrest on Tuesday during a press briefing at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
Olukoyede said Mamman was apprehended in the early hours of Tuesday in Rigasa, Kaduna State, where he had reportedly been in hiding. He added that the ex-minister was arrested alongside two individuals accused of harbouring him, noting that concealing a convict is a criminal offence.
According to the EFCC chairman, Mamman was taken into custody at about 3:30 a.m. after security operatives tracked him to a safe location in northwestern Nigeria.
The arrest follows a recent judgment by the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, which sentenced Mamman to 75 years imprisonment after finding him guilty on 12 counts of fraud and money laundering involving ₦33.8 billion.
The court had earlier issued a warrant for his arrest after he failed to appear for sentencing. His lawyer, Mohammed Ahmed, had told the court he was unaware of his client’s whereabouts, adding that attempts to reach him by phone were unsuccessful.
Following the conviction, the trial judge, Justice James Omotosho, directed the EFCC and other security agencies to work with Interpol to ensure the former minister’s arrest. The judge also ruled that Mamman’s sentence would begin from the date of his arrest.
In its ruling, the court held that Mamman, a former minister under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, was guilty on all 12 counts filed by the EFCC.
He was handed seven years imprisonment on 10 counts, and additional sentences of three years and two years on two other counts, to run consecutively. The court allowed an option of a ₦10 million fine on one count, while ordering the forfeiture of recovered foreign currencies and four properties in Abuja linked to him.
