EFCC declares ex-Petroleum Minister Sylva wanted over alleged $14.8m fraud
Former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva has been declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), over “an alleged case of conspiracy and dishonest conversion of $14,859,257”.
This was made known in a public notice issued by the EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale, who said the funds were given to the Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for the construction of a refinery.
Reports also say that Sylva had been placed on the watchlists of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the United Kingdom Metropolitan Police, Interpol and other security agencies in Canada and several other countries.
The notice states: “The public is hereby notified that Timipre Sylva, a former Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, and former Governor of Bayelsa State, whose photograph appears above is wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in an alleged case of conspiracy and dishonest conversion of $14,859,257 – part of funds injected by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) into Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited for the construction of a refinery.
“Sylva, 61, is from Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. This notice is pursuant to a November 6, 2025 warrant of the Federal High Court, Lagos. Anybody with useful information as to his whereabouts should please contact the commission in its Ibadan, Uyo, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Benin, Makurdi, Kaduna, Ilorin, Enugu, Kano, Lagos, Gombe, Port Harcourt, or Abuja offices or through 08093322644; its e-mail address: info@efcc.gov.ng or the nearest police station and other security agencies.”
The EFCC spokesperson further said in a statement that a Federal High Court in Lagos had granted the Commission a warrant on November 6 for the arrest of the former Minister and ex-Governor of Balyelsa State.
“The commission, on November 6, 2025, secured a warrant for the arrest of the former Minister at a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos.
“The order, granted by Justice D.I. Dipeolu, stated: ‘An order is made issuing a warrant to the applicant or any officer of the commission, police, or any law enforcement officer for the arrest of the respondent for the purpose of bringing him before the commission to answer to the criminal offence he is alleged to have committed,’” he said in the statement.
The development is coming barely one month after the House of Representatives launched a probe into the alleged mismanagement of a $35 million investment by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board in a modular refinery project in the Niger Delta that never saw the light of day.
Recall that Sylva’s Abuja residence was raided by the military on October 25 for alleged involvement in an attempted coup, culminating in the arrest of his younger brother named Paga and his driver.
The ex-Minister’s Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Julius Bokoru had said that Sylva was away in the United Kingdom.
He further stated, while reacting to the EFCC notice, that the commission did not notify the former Minister through formal channels, alleging that the development was politically motivated, while expressing surprise that a once deemed alleged coup plot had suddenly become a financial fraud case.
“No formal communication was extended to him, no established protocol observed—only a sudden digital proclamation designed, it would seem, to inflame public sentiment and manufacture yet another episode of orchestrated hostility.
“It is, to say the least, curious that what was once whispered in corridors as a ‘coup matter’ has now quietly metamorphosed into a financial allegation,” Bokoru said.
