‘Sylva has clean hands’: Aide slams EFCC for declaring ex-minister wanted

Julius Bokoru, the Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva, has lashed out at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for declaring his principal wanted over an alleged fraud.

The EFCC declared Sylva, a former governor of Bayelsa State, wanted on Monday, November 10, 2025, over an alleged conspiracy and dishonest conversion of $14,859,257.

The anti-graft agency, in a public notice issued by its spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, revealed that the funds were provided by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited.

Reacting via a statement on Monday, the former minister’s aide said the EFCC did not notify Sylva through formal channels, alleging that the development was politically motivated.

Bokoru, who disclosed that Sylva is currently away in the United Kingdom, further expressed surprise that what was initially described as an alleged coup plot had suddenly become a financial allegation.

Bokoru stated: “No formal communication was extended to him, no established protocol observed — only a sudden digital proclamation designed, it would seem, to inflame public sentiment and manufacture yet another episode of orchestrated hostility.

“It is, to say the least, curious that what was once whispered in corridors as a ‘coup matter’ has now quietly metamorphosed into a financial allegation.

“There must, undoubtedly, be an explanation for this cinematic transition — from rumour to reinvention, from one carefully scripted accusation to another.

EFCC declares ex-Petroleum Minister Timipre Sylva

“Chief Timipre Sylva remains, without equivocation, the target of a coordinated and calculated political onslaught. His recent travails bear an uncanny resemblance to the trials of Job in Holy Scripture — each ordeal arriving with near-mathematical precision, each accusation discredited only for another to appear.”

The former minister’s aide stressed that his principal is a law-abiding citizen and would honour the EFCC invitation as soon as he returns from his medical trip in the United Kingdom.

He added: “These are no coincidences; they are the deliberate machinations of those who dread Sylva’s enduring political relevance and moral resolve.

“For clarity, I have not been in direct communication with Chief Sylva. However, from available information and from prior official briefings, it is important to restate that Chief Sylva will, in line with his respect for lawful institutions and due process, honour the invitation of the EFCC once he concludes his ongoing medical check-up in the United Kingdom.

“At this stage, one might jest that only the Boys’ Brigade of Nigeria and the Man’O’War remain uninvited to this theatre of persecution. The desperation to sully Sylva’s name knows no restraint—its sponsors are zealous, its intentions transparent, and its malice unmistakable.

“Yet, let it be categorically stated: Chief Timipre Sylva has clean hands. He has not diverted a single dollar, nor has he betrayed the trust reposed in him by the Nigerian people. The refinery project in question is a legitimate, transparent, and verifiable undertaking — subject to due process and traceable documentation.

“To our friends, allies, and well-wishers: this, too, shall pass. Truth, though often delayed, remains immutable. It neither bows to propaganda nor perishes in the tumult of falsehood. Those engineering this relentless campaign of defamation will not prevail — for light, by its very nature, must always outshine darkness.”

The Star