From founding member to wanted man, Timipre Sylva has quit the APC, accused the EFCC of being a political tool, and the anti-graft agency has one reply: come in for questioning.

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

EFCC spokesman Dele Oyewale said it plainly on Monday: He has been declared wanted; he should make himself available to the commission.

That response came after Sylva, who announced his resignation from the All Progressives Congress on Monday, forwarded a copy of his resignation letter to the EFCC and accused the commission of conducting itself more as an organ of the APC than as an institution of State.

Sylva, a former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, also took a swipe at his old party, saying the APC had abandoned its founding ideals and that the Tinubu administration had disappointed Nigerians.

The letter dated 31 August 2026 and addressed to the APC chairman of Ward 4 in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State was delivered electronically and copied to the APC national chairman, the EFCC executive chairman and the Bayelsa APC chairman.

In it, Sylva said his decision followed consultations with family associates and sympathisers and that he had no option but to leave what he called a floundering ship whose fate appears to have been sealed by its irredeemable load of iniquities.

He added that the present government formed under the APC banner has disappointed the vast majority of Nigerians.

In November 2025, the EFCC declared Sylva wanted over an alleged case of conspiracy and dishonest conversion involving 14,859,257 dollars, part of funds the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board had injected into Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited for the construction of a refinery. A Federal High Court in Lagos issued an arrest warrant on 6 November.

Sylva is listed as still at large in a 13-count federal charge involving allegations of treason, terrorism-related offences, conspiracy and money laundering linked to an alleged plot against the administration of President Bola Tinubu. He denies involvement and has not been convicted; the allegations remain subject to judicial proceedings.

Investigators allege he was a principal financier of the plot, accused of contributing about 785 million naira through an Abuja-based company, Purple Waves Limited, with more than 5 billion naira reportedly pooled for the alleged operation. Investigators have also reportedly linked funds to proceeds from Niger Delta Development Commission contracts.

Sylva served as Minister of State for Petroleum Resources under former President Muhammadu Buhari from 2019 to 2023. He is a founding member of the APC formed in 2013 from a merger of opposition parties that ousted the PDP in 2015.

The EFCC position remains unchanged: wanted means wanted. Come and answer questions.

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