EFCC Urges Wanted Ex-Gov Sylva to Make Himself Available for Questioning

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has urged former Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva, who was declared wanted over an alleged $14.86 million fraud, to make himself available for questioning.

 

The commission’s spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, made the call on Monday while reacting to Sylva’s allegation that the anti-graft agency had conducted itself more like an organ of the All Progressives Congress (APC) than an institution of the state.

 

“He has been declared wanted; he should make himself available to the commission,” Oyewale said.

 

Sylva, who announced his resignation from the APC on Monday, said he had forwarded a copy of his resignation letter to the EFCC, accusing the commission of acting as an organ of the ruling party.

 

The former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources also accused the APC of abandoning its founding ideals and said the President Bola Tinubu administration had disappointed Nigerians.

 

In his resignation letter addressed to the APC chairman of Ward 4 in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Sylva said his decision followed consultations with his family, associates, colleagues and sympathisers.

 

He said he could no longer remain in what he described as a “floundering ship whose fate appears to have been sealed by its irredeemable load of iniquities.”

 

Sylva said the ideals upon which the APC was founded had been “thoroughly and unrecognisably thwarted,” adding that he could no longer remain in a party whose leaders, in his view, had embraced the belief that “all is fair in politics.”

 

The EFCC declared Sylva wanted in November 2025 over an alleged case of conspiracy and dishonest conversion involving $14,859,257.

 

His resignation also comes months after he was linked to an alleged plot against the Tinubu administration. He is listed as a defendant and described as “still at large” in a 13-count charge involving allegations of treason, terrorism-related offences, conspiracy and money laundering.

 

Sylva has denied involvement in the alleged plot, and the allegations remain subject to judicial proceedings.

 

In May 2026, the Federal High Court in Abuja granted an interim forfeiture order covering nine properties linked to Sylva following an application by the EFCC.

 

In July 2026, the Department of State Services arraigned five of his associates for allegedly concealing his whereabouts after he was declared wanted in connection with the alleged plot. They pleaded not guilty and were granted bail.

 

Sylva served as Bayelsa State governor from 2007 to 2012 and later served as Minister of State for Petroleum Resources under former President Muhammadu Buhari.