EFCC Summons Ex-Gov Sylva Over $14.86m Fraud

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 spokesman, Dele Oyewale, stated this while reacting to Sylva’s allegation that the anti-graft agency had conducted itself more as an organ of the All Progressives Congress (APC), than as an institution of the state.

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

Sylva, who announced his resignation from the APC on Monday, said he had copied his resignation letter to the EFCC, accusing the Commission of becoming increasingly political.

In the resignation letter addressed to the APC chairman of Ward 4 in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Sylva said the ideals upon which the party was founded had been “thoroughly and unrecognisably thwarted.”

He also criticised the administration of President Bola Tinubu, saying it had disappointed the majority of Nigerians and that he could no longer remain in what he described as a “floundering ship.”

The former governor said he was leaving the APC after consultations with his family, associates, and colleagues, adding that he believed Nigerians would use the 2027 general election to change the country’s political direction.

Sylva deliberately copied the EFCC in his resignation letter, saying the commission had recently conducted itself “more as an organ of the APC than as an institution of state.”

The EFCC declared Sylva wanted in November 2025 over an alleged case of conspiracy and dishonest conversion involving $14.86 million.

He has also been linked to an alleged plot against the Tinubu administration, allegations he has denied.

The former governor, who served from 2007 to 2012, later became Minister of State for Petroleum Resources under former President Muhammadu Buhari. The allegations against him remain subject to judicial proceedings, and he has not been convicted.