Saleh Mamman, a former minister of power, on Thursday, July 11.
collapsed outside the courtroom at a Federal High Court, Abuja.
Mamman, whose plea was scheduled for Thursday morning, reportedly passed out outside the courtroom prior to the case being called.
The former minister’s counsel, Femi Ate, SAN, told Justice James
Omotosho soon after he was summoned to hear his plea. The former minister entered the courtroom as the hearing was about to resume and
stepped into the dock with part of his clothes drenched.
Justice Omotosho then asked why Mamman was sweating, pressed to know whether it was raining outside. The former minister answered from the dock, claiming that the water used to revive him had soaked him.
Speaking, Ate said Mamman, “upon being brought into the premises of the court collapsed and had to be resuscitated and treated by the medical personnel of the Federal High Court.”
The former minister told the court that he took drugs when he was not eating, which is why he collapsed outside the courtroom and that his blood pressure dropped while he was waiting to be called.
But Mamman declared he was well enough to proceed with the arraignment. It is worth recalling that Mamman was charged with 12 counts of money laundering totaling N33 billion by the EFCC.
The former minister was accused of plotting to divert approximately N22 billion with ministry employees in charge of the accounts for the Zungeru and Mambilla Hydro Electric Power projects. He was apprehended in Abuja on May 10, 2021.
Investigations uncovered property in Nigeria and overseas allegedly linked to the suspects, while millions of naira and dollars had reportedly been recovered.
