By The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has called on former Bayelsa State Governor Timipre Sylva to present himself for questioning in connection with an alleged $14.86 million fraud case, a demand that came just after Sylva accused the agency of acting as a political tool for the ruling party. EFCC spokesman Dele Oyewale issued the response on Monday. “He has been declared wanted; he should make himself available to the commission,” Oyewale said.
The exchange followed Sylva’s resignation from the All Progressives Congress, announced in a letter dated August 31 and addressed to the party’s Ward 4 chairman in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. Sylva made a point of copying the EFCC on the letter itself, explaining that he did so because of what he saw as the commission’s growing entanglement with party politics. “I am deliberately putting the EFCC in copy of this letter because, of late, it has conducted itself more as an organ of the APC than as an institution of State,” he wrote. His break with the party went further than the EFCC complaint, extending into broader criticism of the APC-led Federal Government, which he accused of falling short of what Nigerians expected and drifting from the principles the party was built on.
The fraud allegation predates this latest clash, as the EFCC declared Sylva wanted in November 2025 over an alleged conspiracy and dishonest conversion involving $14,859,257, funds the commission says were provided by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board to Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited for refinery construction. The commission has tied Sylva to how those funds were handled, an allegation he denies. Oyewale said at the time that Sylva had been under investigation for a while before being declared wanted after allegedly skipping out on administrative bail and has previously rejected suggestions that the probe is politically driven.
That’s not the only legal trouble following Sylva. He also appears as a defendant in a separate 13-count charge involving alleged treason, terrorism-related offences, conspiracy and money laundering tied to a purported plot against President Bola Tinubu’s administration, allegations he denies and for which he has not been convicted. In May 2026, the Federal High Court in Abuja granted an interim forfeiture order over nine properties allegedly connected to Sylva, following an EFCC application, with the court ordering the decision published so interested parties could contest the potential permanent forfeiture.
Sylva has been outside Nigeria throughout the unfolding investigations. He left the country after the alleged coup plot became public, and shelved plans to return after a raid on his Abuja residence and the arrest of some associates. With the EFCC now renewing its call for him to appear, and Sylva continuing to frame the pressure against him as politically motivated, the underlying allegations remain unresolved, still working their way through investigation and the courts.
