A nonlinear stability theory is adopted to study centrifugal thermal convection in a magnetic-fluid-saturated and differentially heated porous layer placed in a zero-gravity environment. The axis of rotation of the layer is placed within its boundaries that leads to an alternating direction of the centrifugal body force. An analysis through the variational principles is made to find the unconditional and sharp nonlinear limits. The compound matrix method is employed to solve the eigenvalue problems of the nonlinear and corresponding linear theories. The importance of nonlinear theory is established by demonstrating the failure of the linear theory in capturing the physics of the onset of convection.