FORMER Minister of Power, Engr. Saleh Mamman, has asked the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, to quash a nine-count charge filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), arguing that he has already been tried and convicted by the Federal High Court over offences arising from the same transaction.
News Point Nigeria reports that the EFCC, midway through the trial before the Federal High Court, filed a separate nine-count charge against Mamman and seven others over alleged obtaining by false pretence and related offences.
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In charge No. FCT/HC/CR/375/2025, the commission listed Mustapha Abubakar Bida, Joseph Omotayo Adewumi, Ben Nsikak, Stephen Ojo, Oladipo Adebowale, Micheal Achua and Ogunjobi Olusola as co-defendants alongside the former minister.
Legal experts have questioned why the co-defendants, who allegedly held various key positions in the Mambilla-Zungeru hydropower project, were not initially charged alongside Mamman before the Federal High Court.
In a motion marked M/8214/26 and filed on May 14, 2026, Mamman is relying on Section 36(9) of the 1999 Constitution, which protects citizens against double jeopardy.
The former minister is seeking two principal reliefs from the court.
First, he wants an order quashing the charge against him on the grounds that he was previously tried and convicted by the Federal High Court, Abuja, in charge No. FHC/ABJ/CR/273/2024, Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Saleh Mamman, over offences arising from the same transaction and/or the same set of facts.
He is also seeking an order discharging and acquitting him on all counts relating to him in the present charge.
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In support of his application, Mamman outlined several grounds, insisting that he is constitutionally entitled to a fair hearing and protection against double jeopardy under Section 36(9) of the 1999 Constitution.
He stated that he had been arraigned before the FCT High Court alongside seven others on a nine-count charge.
The former minister further argued that he was tried and convicted on May 7, 2026, by the Federal High Court, Abuja, in charge No. FHC/ABJ/CR/273/2024, on facts substantially the same as those forming the basis of the current prosecution.
According to him, the offences alleged in the present charge arise from the same transaction and/or set of facts for which he has already been tried and convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction.
He maintained that subjecting him to another criminal trial on the same facts would violate his constitutional protection against double jeopardy.
In a 15-paragraph affidavit filed in support of the motion, Mohammed Ahmed, a member of the legal team that defended Mamman in the earlier trial before Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, told the court that the allegations in the present charge arose from the same transaction and set of facts for which the applicant had already been tried and convicted.
Ahmed further stated that no superior court had ordered a retrial in respect of the offences for which Mamman was convicted.
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He argued that the continued prosecution of the former minister under the present charge therefore amounted to subjecting him to double jeopardy.
The motion was filed by Mamman’s counsel, Femi Atteh, SAN.
Meanwhile, the EFCC, through its counsel, Mohammed, opposed the application and urged the court to dismiss it.
After hearing arguments on the motion, Justice Maryann Anenih fixed November 26 for ruling.
