Former Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, has written to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) requesting a new, mutually agreed date to appear before investigators, describing the agency’s decision to declare him wanted as hasty, unfair and potentially dangerous.
In a letter personally signed and addressed to EFCC chairman Ola Olukoyede — dated 24 November and acknowledged by the commission two days later — Sylva said he was currently undergoing treatment for a “life-threatening condition” and was consulting his doctors on whether he could safely suspend medical care long enough to honour the invitation.
“In view of the foregoing, I most humbly request that a mutually agreed date be set, subject to medical clearance,” 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.”
The former minister, who has been accused of involvement in a $14.8m fraud, insisted he had never ignored a lawful summons. He said he appeared before the EFCC in December last year in connection with the same case, was granted bail on self-recognition, and was told he would be contacted again if required. “To the best of my knowledge and belief, no further invitation or correspondence was issued thereafter,” he wrote, calling the ‘wanted’ notice “deeply surprising and profoundly unsettling.”
Sylva said the recent sequence of events — from a rumoured coup plot to a military raid on his Abuja residence — had placed him, his family and his staff under immense pressure. According to the letter, soldiers stormed his home earlier this month, arresting aides including drivers, domestic staff and his brother Paga, who serves as his Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs. Several of them remain in detention.
The former Bayelsa governor suggested the actions against him may fuel “the public impression of political witch-hunt,” adding: “I have appeared to be a target since the beginning of this administration.”
His media aide, Julius Bokoru, confirmed the raid but rejected claims of coup involvement, alleging that “mischief” was being engineered by unnamed political rivals who see Sylva as a threat. Bokoru also criticised the EFCC’s decision to issue a public wanted declaration, arguing that the former minister had not been contacted beforehand and had therefore not shunned any summons.
For now, Sylva maintains he is willing to submit to questioning — but only, he says, when he is well enough to do so. Whether the EFCC agrees to wait is another matter entirely.
