On Wednesday, May 10, 2023, the former minister of power Sale Mamman was arrested and detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly embezzling NGN22 billion.
The ex-minister is surrounded by many controversies even when he was in office between 2019 to 2021.
Table of Contents
Intro:
The privileges that come with political posts in Nigeria are indescribable that politicians grief like they lost the dearest person to them when they lose an election or when they sacked by their employee
One of the Buharists and a former Minister of Power Sale Mamman is the recent case study of this pitiable scenario.
- Full Name: Mamman Kwagyang Sale
- Date of Birth: February 2, 1958
- Assumption of office: August 21, 2019
- Sacking: September 1, 2021
Definitely, the former businessman had a mission to accomplish at the power ministry he was appointed to oversee before his dream was cut short due to what has been described as “weak” performance.
Although he gave himself an “A” which symbolizes excellence, it isn’t possible to be the judge in your case.
President Muhammadu Buhari who had given him and his counterpart at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Sabo Nanono a long rope to pull kicked them out of the Federal Executive Council and announced their replacement.
While nothing was heard about how Nanono (https://infomediang.com/muhammad-sabo-nanono-biography) reacted to the news, his counterpart at the Ministry of Power, Sale Mamman, landed in the hospital, according to People’s Gazette, immediately their employee told them that their services were no longer needed.
He was said to have collapsed on September 1, 2021, when he heard the news of his sack by Buhari. He was immediately rushed to a hospital in Abuja.
PG quoted a source as saying, “He wasn’t expecting to be fired so soon.”
So…Who is he?
Sale Mamman State of Origin
The sacked minister of power hails from the Jalingo Local Government Area of Taraba State.
Education:
He attended the Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna State in 1988 where he received an Ordinary National Diploma in Electrical Engineering, from there he proceeded to the Federal Polytechnic Mubi for his Higher National Diploma in Electrical Engineering from Federal Polytechnic Mubi, Adamawa State in 1991.
Between 2000-2003, Mamman was at the Bayero University Kano (BUK) for his Post Graduate Diploma in Electrical Engineering.
Four years after his PGD at BUK, he returned to the same institution, this time, for a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering till 2010.
He also has a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management between 2011 to 2012 at BUK. And between 2014 to 2015, he bagged another Master’s Degree in Human Relations.
Previous Working Experience
At the age of 21, Sale Mamman was a teacher at Technical School in Mubi, Adamawa State.
Between 1983 to 1984, Mamman was the Acting Head of Works at Jalingo Local Government, and between 1988 to 1990, he was a Technical Instructor, Vocational Training School Jalingo.
After his HND, he partook in the one-year NYSC mandatory service at Ofoalya Primary and Secondary School, Ondo State between 1991 to 1992.
In 1992, he transferred his service to Taraba State. He was promoted to the rank of assistant director in the Ministry of works in Taraba State when he transferred his service to Taraba State in 1992, according to his profile on the website of the West African Power and Energy Cooperation Conference which was held in Abuja in June 3, 2021
He became a full-time politician and businessman in 2002 after pulling out of state service
Political Career
As an active politician, he was the pioneer State Party Chairman of Congress for Progress Change (CPC) in Taraba State between 2010 to 2011.
As one of the foot soldiers for Buhari’s 2011 presidential election, he later became the Presidential Returning Officer, Taraba State in 2019.
Professional Membership:
Mamman is a member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, he loves reading, sports-track and field as well as traveling.
He is a member of some professional bodies which include: NSE and a Licensed Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN).
Sale’s Arrest for Alleged Corruption
Barely 20 months after his ouster from the Ministry of Power, the Taraba-born politician was arrested by Nigeria’s anti-graft over alleged involvement in NGN22 billion fraud.
The money was said to be part of the execution of some power projects. He allegedly conspired with top officials of Zungeru and Mambilla Hydro Electric Power projects; they allegedly diverted N22 billion and share among themselves.
EFCC investigators said they uncovered properties in his name within Nigeria and overseas.
Controversies:
Like Nanono like Mamman, the sacked minister took several controversial decisions in the power ministry like sacking top officials who would have helped in achieving the goals set by the APC-led government.
Bias Sacking
First, he sacked the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Mrs Damilola Ogunbiyi, in 2019.
A year after, kicked out the Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Mr Usman Gur Mohammed in May 2020.
Before the end of June the year, he booted the Managing Director of Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading PLC (NBET), Dr Marilyn Amobi.
As if that wasn’t enough, before the end of 2020, another senior official of the ministry was kicked out of office.
Prof. James Momoh, Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) was kicked out.
He was accused of ethnic bias and favoritism.
Missing appointment letters
There was also the issue of missing appointment letters for members of the board of TCN after their appointments in January 2021.
Plan to supply electricity to Chad
When epileptic power supply was crippling hundreds of businesses that depended on power, Mamman in October 2020, announced that Nigeria was planning to supply electricity to Chad.
He may not be the inventor of the many challenges of power supply in Nigeria, some Nigerians believe that he has not done enough to solve the problem, rather than complicating issues.
Living Large Before Sack
The 63-year-old Taraba politician it was gathered that he had been ‘living’ at Transcorp Hilton in Abuja for close to a month “on the bills of some powerful interests in the power sector” who were expecting juicy contracts from the ministry.
His Achievements
But the sacked minister praised himself on his Facebook page, saying his giant’s strides were beyond imagination.
“My sincere gratitude also goes out to everyone at the Federal Ministry of Power and its supervising agencies. Without your tremendous and selfless efforts, we couldn’t have recorded the giant strides we achieved in the past 2 years.
Although some Nigerians testified that they witnessed improved power supply in their locations, Nigeria’s power generation has been snalling between 3,000 megawatts and 4,500MW since Buhari assumed office.
Will Sale Mamman’s arrest be the last in the Muhammadu Buhari-led APC government as he has less than 19 days in office?
