Nigeria: EFCC Declares Ex-Minister Timipre Sylva Wanted Over Alleged $14.8m Fraud

10 November 2025

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has declared former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, wanted over alleged case of conspiracy and dishonest conversion of $14,859,257.

EFCC said the money was part of funds injected by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) into Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited for the purpose of constructing 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 Lagos State High Court," the anti-graft agency said.

The notice, signed by EFCC spokesman, Dele Oyewale, on Monday evening, added that anybody with useful information as to Sylva's whereabouts should contact the commission in any of its zonal offices in Ibandan, Uyo, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Benin City, Makurdi, Kaduna, Ilorin, Enugu, Kano, Lagos, Gombe, Port Harcourt or Abuja.

LEADERSHIP recalls that Sylva, a former governor of Bayelsa State, was recently fingered in an alleged coup plot even as his spokesman acknowledged the raid on his Abuja home by operatives of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA).

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