Former Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, has written to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission requesting a mutually agreed date to honour its invitation over an alleged $14.8 million fraud.
Sylva said he has never ignored any lawful summons and faulted the agency’s decision to declare him wanted.
In a letter personally signed and addressed to EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede, Sylva said he is currently receiving urgent medical treatment for a “life-threatening condition.”
The letter, dated November 24 and acknowledged by the EFCC on November 26, explained that he was consulting his medical team to determine whether he could safely suspend treatment to appear before investigators.
“In view of the foregoing, I most humbly request that a mutually agreed date be set, subject to medical clearance, to enable me appear physically and formally,” he wrote. “I trust that the objective of your invitation is not to unalive, but to genuinely investigate an alleged crime. For only the living can appropriately, fully and responsibly respond to any allegation, which I firmly and respectfully deny.”
Sylva said recent developments had put him, his family, and associates under pressure, beginning with “an unverified accusation” linking him to a plot to undermine President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He noted that the situation escalated into a military raid on his Abuja home, during which his drivers, security aides, and domestic staff were arrested, with some still detained.
“While still grappling with the emotional and psychological strain of those events, I was on Monday, November 10, 2025, publicly declared wanted by your esteemed agency over an alleged $14.8m fraud,” he said.
He insisted he had already honoured an EFCC invitation in December 2024 regarding the same allegation, after which he was granted administrative bail on self-recognition and told he would be contacted if needed. “To the best of my knowledge and belief, no further invitation or correspondence was issued to me thereafter,” he wrote, describing the public notice declaring him wanted as “deeply surprising and profoundly unsettling.”
Sylva also rejected claims that he jumped bail. He maintained that “no such incident occurred, nor was any such bail condition ever violated,” adding that recent actions by the EFCC risk creating “a public impression of political witch-hunt.” He suggested that he appears to have been “a target since the beginning of this administration.”
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Sylva has in recent weeks been linked to rumours of an aborted coup. His Abuja residence was raided by operatives believed to be from military intelligence, after which the EFCC declared him wanted.
During the raid, his younger brother, Paga, who serves as his Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs, and his driver were reportedly arrested. His Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Julius Bokoru, confirmed the raid but dismissed any suggestion that Sylva was involved in a coup plot. Instead, he accused unnamed politicians of spreading misinformation because they see the former governor as a threat to their ambitions.
Bokoru further criticised the EFCC for announcing Sylva as wanted, arguing that the former minister was never invited before the declaration.
