The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has declared former Petroleum Minister Timipre Sylva wanted over allegations of fraud involving £14.8 million.
The anti-corruption agency posted a “Wanted” notice for the 61-year-old former governor of Bayelsa State on its official social media channels on Monday evening.
The notice includes his photograph and personal details, urging the public to provide information regarding his whereabouts.
According to the EFCC, the charges pertain to the “dishonest conversion” of £14,859,257. The funds were reportedly part of money injected by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) into a company named Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited, intended for the construction of a refinery.
The public notice is based on a warrant issued by the Lagos State High Court on 6 November 2025.
“The public is hereby notified that TIMIPRE SYLVA… is wanted,” stated the notice from the commission’s Head of Media & Publicity, Dele Oyewale. It provided contact numbers, an email address (info@efcc.gov.ng), and listed its offices across the country where information can be submitted.
This development follows a raid on Mr Sylva’s home in Abuja by the Department of State Services (DSS) just weeks prior. That raid was part of the DSS’s investigation into an alleged failed coup plot, although the extent of Mr Sylva’s alleged involvement remains unclear.
These consecutive serious allegations—first of political conspiracy and now of large-scale financial misconduct—have thrust the former minister into the eye of a significant storm.
Timipre Sylva served as the Governor of Bayelsa State in the oil-rich Niger Delta from 2008 to 2012. He was later appointed as the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources from 2019 to 2023 under former President Muhammadu Buhari.
