Nigerian human rights lawyer and lead counsel for the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has stated that the recent conviction of former Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, must serve as a thunderous warning to those presently intoxicated by power within Nigeria’s leadership circle.
Saleh Mamman was recently convicted and sentenced to 75 years imprisonment over the laundering and fraudulent diversion of ₦33.8 billion in public funds.
Ejiofor said the judgment should not be viewed as merely another criminal trial brought to a conclusion, but as a historic reminder that no empire of corruption survives forever.
In a statement titled: “WEEKEND MUSINGS: ₦33.8 BILLION STOLEN, 75 YEARS IMPRISONMENT OF FORMER MINISTER OF POWER – SALEH MAMMAN: THE SHAMEFUL COLLAPSE OF PUBLIC MORALITY AND THE BLOOD-STAINED CULTURE OF STATE LOOTING IN NIGERIA,” Ejiofor warned those feeding fat on public resources under the illusion that the day of reckoning will never come that accountability is inevitable.
According to him, while millions of Nigerians can barely afford food, healthcare, education, or electricity, it remains a painful contradiction that a single public official, acting in conspiracy with others, could siphon ₦33.8 billion belonging to suffering taxpayers.
“One is compelled to ask,” he stated, “what exactly is the destination of such obscene wealth? Can one man exhaust it in several lifetimes, or has corruption now become a hereditary investment reserved for unborn generations?”
Ejiofor maintained that no nation has made meaningful progress against corruption through rhetoric alone.
According to him, countries such as Singapore and China imposed ruthless accountability systems, severe sanctions, institutional discipline, and consequences strong enough to instill fear in public officers.
“Nigeria cannot continue to romanticize corruption while expecting development,” he said.
He further lamented that a nation where treasury looters are celebrated with chieftaincy titles, applauded at social gatherings, and recycled into positions of authority can never genuinely prosper.
Ejiofor stressed that public office holders, including those currently serving in government, must understand an eternal truth consistently demonstrated by history: power is transient, but accountability is inevitable.
“Every stolen kobo leaves behind a footprint. Every abuse of office plants the seed of eventual disgrace,”
“Until corruption becomes genuinely dangerous to corrupt people, rather than dangerous only to the poor masses, the struggle for national redemption shall remain painfully incomplete.”he said.
According to Ejiofor, the looting of public funds is a grim mirror reflecting the tragic moral collapse that has ravaged the Nigerian public service for decades.
He questioned whether the conviction would genuinely deter the ravenous corruption festering within the corridors of power or whether it was merely another sacrificial headline in a nation where corruption has become deeply institutionalized.
“When many desperately jostle and scheme for appointments into the Federal Cabinet and other strategic public offices, it is often not propelled by patriotism, competence, vision, or service to humanity,”
“Rather, for many, public office has become a guaranteed gateway to primitive accumulation of wealth, reckless opulence, and the shameless demolition of our collective patrimony.”
“Let us not deceive ourselves. No individual suddenly acquires ₦33.8 billion from legitimate earnings in public service. Such monumental theft is rarely the handiwork of one man. It is usually a carefully coordinated enterprise executed by networks of political buccaneers, bureaucratic conspirators, contractors, and institutional collaborators who have long auctioned their conscience upon the altar of greed.” he added.
Ejiofor described the tragedy of Nigeria not merely as corruption itself, but the audacity with which it is committed.
“Men who, before assuming office, could scarcely boast of modest means suddenly begin to live like emperors — convoys swelling overnight, mansions erupting across continents, and private jets materializing from thin air ,while the ordinary Nigerian sinks deeper into poverty, darkness, insecurity, and despair,” he said.
He further noted that history painfully reminds Nigerians that the cycle is not new.
“From the infamous cement armada scandal of the 1970s, to the era of military looting, pension frauds, fuel subsidy scandals, abandoned power projects, and mindless contract inflation, Nigeria has remained trapped in a vicious cycle where public office is too often mistaken for a criminal franchise.”he said.
Ejiofor said the irony of the situation remains both tragic and amusing.
“Some of those loudly parading themselves today as saints of accountability, occupying sensitive leadership positions at the national level, were once publicly indicted, investigated, or pursued by anti-corruption agencies,”
“Nigerians still remember when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission publicly released shocking records of looted assets allegedly linked to certain public office holders who are today presiding over strategic organs of government.”
“At the time, they were fugitives of public morality until political convenience suddenly washed them cleaner than snow.”
“But history is patient. Files do not entirely disappear. Dossiers do not eternally vanish. Evidence sleeps; it rarely dies. Somewhere within dusty shelves and forgotten archives still lie records awaiting the appointed hour of resurrection.”he added.
