The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has urged former Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva, to make himself available for questioning after he accused the anti-graft agency of acting as an organ of the All Progressives Congress.
Sylva, who resigned from the APC on Monday, had copied the EFCC Chairman on his resignation letter and accused the commission of becoming increasingly political.
Responding to the allegation, EFCC spokesman, Dele Oyewale, said Sylva should report to the commission since he had already been declared wanted.
“He has been declared wanted; he should make himself available to the commission,” Oyewale said.
The former governor, who also served as Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, announced his resignation from the APC in a letter addressed to the party chairman of Ward 4 in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
The letter, dated August 31, 2026, was also copied to the APC National Chairman, the EFCC Executive Chairman and the Bayelsa State APC Chairman.
Sylva said his decision followed consultations with his family, associates, colleagues and sympathisers.
He said he could no longer remain in a party whose leaders had, in his view, abandoned the ideals upon which the APC was founded.
“As a founding member of the APC, and one who joined other well-meaning Nigerians in building the Party with sweat and money, it is deeply saddening to witness how the ideals we espoused have been so thoroughly and unrecognisably thwarted,” he said.
Sylva also criticised the administration of President Bola Tinubu, saying the APC-led Federal Government had disappointed Nigerians.
“The present Government, formed under the banner of the APC we once loved, has disappointed the vast majority of Nigerians. And I can see neither a credible attempt nor any possibility of a revamp,” he stated.
Explaining why he copied the EFCC on the resignation letter, Sylva alleged that the commission had recently conducted itself more as an organ of the APC than as a state institution.
“I am fully aware that this action of mine may invite a redoubled witch-hunt against me and my associates, but that is a risk I am willing to take,” he wrote.
The EFCC declared Sylva wanted in November 2025 over an alleged case of conspiracy and dishonest conversion involving $14,859,257.
His latest political move also comes amid an ongoing investigation into an alleged plot against the Tinubu administration.
Sylva 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.
Multiple reports had indicated that Sylva left Nigeria after details of the alleged plot became public. Investigators also reportedly linked him to the alleged financing of the operation through Purple Waves Limited, an Abuja-based company.
According to the allegations, about N785m was traced to Sylva through Purple Waves and a bureau de change operator, as part of more than N5bn allegedly pooled for the operation.
Investigators also reportedly linked funds paid into Purple Waves to contracts awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission and loans obtained by the company.
Sylva has denied involvement in the alleged plot.
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.
In May 2026, the Federal High Court in Abuja also granted an interim forfeiture order covering nine properties linked to Sylva following an application by the EFCC.
Sylva served as Bayelsa State governor from 2007 to 2012, with his tenure interrupted by court rulings. He later served as 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.