The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has urged former Bayelsa State Governor Timipre Sylva, who has been declared wanted over an alleged $14.86m fraud, to make himself available for questioning.
The commission’s spokesman, Dele Oyewale, stated this on Monday while reacting to Sylva’s allegation that the anti-graft agency had conducted itself more as an organ of the All Progressives Congress than as an institution of the state.
“He has been declared wanted; he should make himself available to the commission,” Oyewale said when asked to respond to the allegation.
Sylva, who announced his resignation from the APC on Monday, said he had forwarded a copy of his resignation letter to the EFCC, accusing the commission of acting as an organ of the ruling party.
The former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources also accused the APC of abandoning its founding ideals and said the Tinubu administration had disappointed Nigerians.
The resignation letter, addressed to the APC chairman of Ward 4 in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, was delivered electronically. It was also copied to the national chairman of the APC, the executive chairman of the EFCC, and the chairman of the APC in Bayelsa State.
Sylva said his decision to quit the party followed consultations with his family, associates, colleagues, and sympathizers.
He said he had no option but to leave what he described as a “floundering ship whose fate appears to have been sealed by its irredeemable load of iniquities.”
The former governor said he could no longer remain in a party whose leaders, in his view, had embraced the belief that “all is fair in politics.”
In the resignation letter dated August 31, 2026, and obtained by our correspondents, Sylva said the ideals upon which the APC was founded had been “thoroughly and unrecognisably thwarted.”
He wrote, “As a founding member of the APC, and one who joined other well-meaning Nigerians in building the party with sweat and money, it is deeply saddening to witness how the ideals we espoused have been so thoroughly and unrecognisably thwarted.
“Moreover, I cannot, in all good conscience, continue to belong to a party whose leaders believe that ‘all is fair in politics’ and have consistently demonstrated that belief in practice.
“All cannot be fair in any endeavor of life. The demands of basic decency and morality forbid it. Unfortunately, this mentality appears to underpin virtually every action, and even inaction, of this administration.”
Sylva also criticized the APC-led Federal Government, saying it had failed to meet the expectations of Nigerians.
“The present government, formed under the banner of the APC we once loved, has disappointed the vast majority of Nigerians. And I can see neither a credible attempt nor any possibility of a revamp,” he stated.
He said he was leaving the party in the belief that Nigerians would use the next election to change the political direction of the country.
“I am therefore left with no other choice than to jettison a floundering ship whose fate appears to have been sealed by its irredeemable load of iniquities. I have no doubt that, in the coming election, Nigerians will vote for Nigeria and free the country from this stranglehold on our beautiful country,” he said.
Explaining why he copied the EFCC in the resignation letter, Sylva accused the commission of becoming increasingly political and expressed fear that his resignation could trigger further investigation against him and his associates.
He wrote, “I am deliberately putting the EFCC in copy of this letter because, of late, it has conducted itself more as an organ of the APC than as an institution of the state.
“I am fully aware that this action of mine may invite a redoubled witch-hunt against me and my associates, but that is a risk I am willing to take.”
The former governor expressed confidence that Nigerians would use the next general election to “vote for Nigeria” and free the country from what he described as the current “stranglehold” on the country.
