Nigeria sentenced its former power minister to 75 years in prison for stealing the electricity money. He wasn't in court. Nobody knows where he is. That's the day in one sentence.

Here's what happened.

1. The minister who stole the electricity money got 75 years. He's on the run.
2. Tinubu told the world Nigeria can't afford its debt. Then he went to borrow more.
3. The second market in a month bombed from the air. The military says it saw no civilians.
4. Civil servants got the pay increase they'd been waiting two years for. Sort of.
5. The Question. A PhD. A fugitive. What's the relationship?
6. Two points. City are still alive.

Let's dig deeper. Here's what it means.

1. CONVICTED. SENTENCED. NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.

A federal court jailed Nigeria's former power minister for 75 years. He didn't show up. His lawyer didn't know where to find him. Interpol has been called.

Saleh Mamman served as Nigeria's Minister of Power from August 2019 to September 2021. During that time, roughly N33.8 billion earmarked for the Zungeru and Mambilla hydroelectric power projects moved out of the federal treasury. It went through shell companies and bureau de change operators into properties and foreign accounts. Nigeria stayed in darkness.

On Wednesday morning, Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja handed down a 75-year prison sentence. Consecutive counts. No option of fine on ten of them. The sentence starts running from the day of Mamman's arrest. The day hasn't come yet. Mamman wasn't in court. His own lawyer told the judge he hadn't been able to reach him since Tuesday. He didn't have a number that connected.

Omotosho ordered every security agency in Nigeria to find the man. Then he ordered Interpol.

The Mambilla project was designed to generate over 3,000 megawatts, which would be transformative for a country that currently generates less than 5,000 megawatts for 220 million people. The project has been promised since the 1970s. It has never been built. Now a court has found that the minister responsible for power stole the funds meant to move it forward. Omotosho said it plainly from the bench. He noted that the former minister had lived well while in office. Then he said: "Little wonder that Nigerians have remained in darkness till today."

The conviction follows a pattern you'll recognise. Under Buhari, Mamman was untouchable. He was arraigned in July 2024, more than three years after leaving office, then spent nearly two years in trial proceedings before finally skipping out. The case against Diezani Alison-Madueke ran a similar timeline. So did James Ibori's, before the British courts stepped in. Nigerian anti-corruption trials rarely move quickly, and by the time they do, the accused has had time to make arrangements.

What happened on Wednesday is real. The EFCC brought 17 witnesses and 43 exhibits. The judge reviewed them and found Mamman guilty on all 12 counts beyond reasonable doubt. The conviction is not in dispute. What's in dispute is whether it matters.

A sentence of 75 years that starts on the day of arrest, and the man hasn't been arrested, is a sentence that currently exists only on paper. The properties the court ordered forfeited will be processed. The Interpol red notice will be issued. The security agencies will issue statements. And somewhere, a man who stole billions meant to light Nigerian homes is deciding which country to call next.

The last time a sitting or former Nigerian minister was convicted, sentenced, and actually jailed by a Nigerian court was not a moment that comes easily to mind. Convictions happen. Sentencing happens. Prison is rarer.

You might already know someone who sat in darkness last night because of what Saleh Mamman did. You might have been that person yourself. The court has now told you his name, found him guilty, and sent Interpol to find him. Whether any of that produces a reckoning is the question Nigeria has been asking for fifty years.

2. THE SPEECH AND THE LOAN

Tinubu flew to Nairobi and told the world that Nigeria's debt is eating it alive. The same week, his government moved to borrow another $1.25 billion.

On Tuesday, at the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, President Tinubu delivered one of the sharper speeches of his presidency. Nigeria will spend $11.6 billion servicing its debt in 2026. Nearly half of projected government revenue. Up from $5.15 billion in 2025. Every dollar going out in interest is a dollar that doesn't build a steel plant, doesn't train an engineer, doesn't put power on the grid. He said the global financial system is designed to keep African countries dependent. He said it with the kind of conviction that makes international summits feel like they might actually produce something.

He was right about the numbers. Nigeria's debt servicing has more than doubled in a single year. The Nigerian Economic Summit Group called it a major vulnerability this week. At the current rate, borrowing is crowding out spending on roads, hospitals, schools and everything else the government is supposed to fund.

The part Tinubu left out of the Nairobi speech is that his government was moving that same week to take a fresh $1.25 billion from the World Bank.

That's not a contradiction that discredits the speech. The speech was accurate. The problem Tinubu described is real. African countries do pay higher borrowing costs than comparable economies elsewhere, and the gap is structural. He was describing a system that's working against Nigeria.

But you can't call the debt a crisis in a keynote address and then add to it in the same news cycle without someone asking what the plan actually is. Nigeria's debt-to-GDP ratio is projected at 32.3 percent in 2026, which is not catastrophic by global standards. The issue isn't the ratio. It's the servicing cost relative to revenue, which is where the pain lives. When half your revenue goes out the door before you've funded a single ministry, the debate about whether you should be borrowing more has a fairly obvious answer.

The man who called the global financial system an instrument of industrial disarmament still needs to govern a country that can't pay its bills without more borrowing. Both things are true. Neither makes the other less uncomfortable.

3. THE SECOND MARKET

On Sunday, Nigerian military jets bombed a crowded market in Zamfara. At least 100 people were killed, according to Amnesty International. The military says it saw no civilians.

This is now happening monthly.

In April, a similar airstrike hit Jilli market, on the Borno-Yobe border. Amnesty said approximately 200 people died. The military opened a probe. On Sunday, jets hit Tumfa market in Zurmi, Zamfara. Amnesty said at least 100 died. Local media reported 117. Dozens were taken to hospitals in Zurmi and Shinkafi. Many of those killed were women and girls.

The military confirmed it conducted an operation in the Tumfa area. Defence spokesperson Major-General Michael Onoja said the target was a "confirmed high-level gathering" of militant leaders. He said the strike was intelligence-led. He said the casualty figures circulating in the media were speculative, unverified, and inconsistent with official assessments. "No credible, substantiated evidence of civilian casualties has been established," he said.

Witnesses described something different. Military aircraft were seen circling the market at midday. They left. About two hours later they returned and struck while the market was full of people. A resident of Zurmi town, about seven kilometres away, estimated 117 dead. He said the market was under bandit control. He said everyone who went there knew it. He also said the bombing was visible from where he stood.

Tumfa and many communities in Zurmi local government have been under armed group control for years. The state is absent. Bandits function as the de facto authority. The people who live there trade with them because there's no alternative. When the military arrives and sees a gathering, the intelligence says terrorists. What the intelligence may not capture is that the women selling millet and tofu aren't fighters.

The army's position after the Jilli strike was similar. Investigation announced. Findings not yet published.

There are young girls from Zamfara who went to sell food on Sunday morning and didn't come home. Their names aren't in any of the reports.

4. APPROVED DOESN'T MEAN APPROVED

The federal government told civil servants they'd finally get their 40 percent allowance. Then the government office that hosted the meeting said it never approved anything.

Here's what happened on Tuesday. The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Esther Walson-Jack, convened a meeting with labour leaders. The National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission formally presented a circular. Civil servants were told the 40 percent peculiar allowance they'd been waiting for since July 2024 was being implemented, backdated to May 1. A strike scheduled for May 21 was called off. Union leaders described it as a major victory.

Here's what happened next. The Office of the Head of the Civil Service issued a statement. It said the Tuesday meeting was strictly "interventionist and conciliatory." It said the OHCSF neither approved nor conveyed approval of any allowance to any labour union. It said the actual circular had been issued by the NSIWC on April 23. It said the Head of Service announced the government's approval of a welfare package back on April 24, which included an upward review of peculiar allowances.

So the allowance exists, was announced in April, and Tuesday was a meeting to discuss implementation. The problem is that workers had been demanding an unambiguous implementation circular since April. They hadn't received one. That's why they threatened to strike on May 21. Tuesday's meeting produced the circular. Now the government says the circular wasn't an approval of anything new.

Federal civil servants have been living on a salary structure that hasn't kept up with two years of inflation since the minimum wage changed in 2024. The N70,000 minimum wage was itself an inadequate response to what living in Nigeria actually costs in 2026. The 40 percent allowance attached to it was meant to close some of the gap. Whether that allowance has now been approved, clarified, confirmed, or backdated to when it was already approved in April depends on which government statement you read.

Workers are still waiting to see the money in their accounts. That's the test that matters.

5. THE QUESTION

Every Thursday, Something the week made urgent.

Dr Ayomide Alokun is 27 years old. He has a BSc in Political Science, an MSc in Political Science, and a PhD in International Relations. He has been recognised nationally for humanitarian work during COVID-19. He is completely unemployed.

This week he walked onto the streets of Abuja with a placard listing his qualifications and a request addressed directly to President Tinubu. He went viral. People shared his video. Some offered sympathy. Some said he was naive. Some said he should try the private sector. Some said Nigeria doesn't reward intelligence, only loyalty.

On the same day Alokun was on the streets, a court in Abuja was preparing to sentence Saleh Mamman to 75 years. Mamman stole ₦33.8 billion meant to fund the hydroelectric projects that would have powered the economy. The economy that would have employed people like Alokun.

I'm not saying Mamman stole Alokun's job. I'm saying that's the actual relationship between those two people. One man made off with the resources of a country. Another man walked that country's streets with three degrees and nothing to show for them. And the man who stole the money is currently unreachable, while the man who earned the degrees is very reachable, very visible, and still waiting.

The question this week isn't why Alokun can't find work. Nigeria has graduate unemployment rates that would be scandalous if they weren't so familiar. The question is what we make of a country that can't find Saleh Mamman.

6. TWO POINTS

Man City beat Crystal Palace 3-0 on Wednesday. Arsenal are still two points ahead. Two games left for both.

Phil Foden hasn't started a Premier League game in two months. On Wednesday at the Etihad, he set up the first two goals and looked like himself again. Antoine Semenyo scored the opener. Omar Marmoush got the second. Savinho added a third late on. Palace were half-thinking about Saturday's Conference League final and didn't make it hard.

City are two points behind Arsenal with two games each remaining. Arsenal can win the title on Monday if they beat Burnley at home. If Arsenal drop points, City go to Bournemouth on Tuesday needing a result, and then it goes to the final day.

No team in English top-division history has made up a five-point deficit this late in a season to win the title. City were five points back not long ago. They're at two now. Guardiola was pumping his fist at full time. He doesn't look like a man who's conceded.

City have the FA Cup final against Chelsea on Saturday first. If they win that, Guardiola gets a domestic double regardless of what happens in the league. Arsenal fans will tell you the title is done. City fans will tell you it isn't over. They're both technically right.