…As Ijaw youths kick
By Luminous Jannamike & Emem Idio
The Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee, EFCC, has declared former Minister of Petroleum Sources and ex-governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, wished over an alleged case of conspiracy and dishonest conversion of $14.8 million, belonging to the Nigerian Content material Growth and Monitoring Board, NCDMB.
In the meantime, Julius Bokoru, Particular Assistant on Media and Public Affairs to Sylva, has described the EFCC’s declaration as a “coordinated political onslaught” aimed toward tarnishing Sylva’s status.“
Additionally, the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, Worldwide, has expressed reservations with the EFCC for declaring Sylva wished.
EFCC in an announcement by its Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, stated the funds have been a part of an funding made by the NCDMB into Atlantic Worldwide Refinery and Petrochemical Restricted for the development of a refinery, which was allegedly diverted.
The fee stated it had obtained a warrant of arrest from a Federal Excessive Court docket sitting in Lagos on November 6, 2025, to arrest and interrogate Sylva over the alleged crime. The warrant was issued by Justice D. Dipeolu.
The fee known as on members of the general public to help regulation enforcement efforts by offering credible data that might result in Sylva’s arrest.
“The fee additionally enjoins anybody with helpful data on his whereabouts to contact any of its Zonal Directorates throughout the nation or the closest Police Station and different safety businesses,” Oyewale added.
It’s coordinated political onslaught —AIDE
Bokoru in an announcement, yesterday, stated: “The EFCC on Monday took to social media to announce, fairly unceremoniously, that it had declared Sylva wished.
No formal communication was prolonged to him, no established protocol noticed, solely a sudden digital proclamation designed, it might appear, to inflame public sentiment and manufacture one more episode of orchestrated hostility.
“It’s, to say the least, curious that what was as soon as whispered in corridors as a “coup matter” has now quietly metamorphosed right into a monetary allegation. The identical shadowy forces that after sought to criminalise Sylva politically now seem to have reinvented themselves as fiscal crusaders. There should, undoubtedly, be a proof for this cinematic transition, from hearsay to reinvention, from one rigorously scripted accusation to a different.
“Chief Sylva stays, with out equivocation, the goal of a coordinated and calculated political onslaught. His current travails bear an uncanny resemblance to the trials of Job in Holy Scripture, every ordeal arriving with near-mathematical precision, every accusation discredited just for one other to look. These are not any coincidences; they’re the deliberate machinations of those that dread Sylva’s enduring political relevance and ethical resolve.
“For readability, I’ve not been in direct communication with Chief Sylva. Nevertheless, from obtainable data and from prior official briefings, you will need to restate that Chief Sylva will, in keeping with his respect for lawful establishments and due course of, honour the invitation of the EFCC as soon as he concludes his ongoing medical check-up in the UK.
“At this stage, one would possibly jest that solely the Boys’ Brigade of Nigeria and the Man’O’Conflict stay uninvited to this theatre of persecution. The desperation to sully Sylva’s title is aware of no restraint, its sponsors are zealous, its intentions clear, and its malice unmistakable. But, let it’s categorically acknowledged: Chief Sylva has clear palms. He has not diverted a single greenback, nor has he betrayed the belief reposed in him by the Nigerian folks. The refinery challenge in query is a legit, clear, and verifiable enterprise, topic to due course of and traceable documentation.
“To our associates, allies, and well-wishers: this, too, shall move. Fact, although usually delayed, stays immutable. It neither bows to propaganda nor perishes within the tumult of falsehood. These engineering this relentless marketing campaign of defamation is not going to prevail, for mild, by its very nature, should at all times outshine darkness.”
As Ijaw youths kick
IYC, Worldwide, by its Spokesman Amb. Binebai Princewill, reacting, yesterday, stated: “Whereas we’re not towards businesses doing their job on this nation, some extent have to be made very clear that the Bola Tinubu authorities should not be seen as a authorities that appears to have been selectively preventing the Ijaw folks.
“Sylva, former Governor of Bayelsa State and the rapid previous Minister of State for Petroleum Sources below late President Muhammadu Buhari is a revered chief in Ijaw and Niger Delta at massive, a person who has sacrificed and contributed in the direction of the expansion and growth of Nigeria and the Petroleum Business.
“The EFCC have to be real of their combat towards corruption. How is it attainable for the EFCC to be declaring Sylva wished and wouldn’t say something about the primary Minister of Petroleum Sources, when Sylva was simply Minister of Petroleum Sources State, who was reporting to the senior minister that occurs to be the President of Nigeria as at then.
“As a council, we have now stated it numerous occasions that as Nigerians, we have to be real in our combat to construct a greater Nigeria, the combat should not be a selective one.
“We’re all conscious how the Supreme Court docket of Nigeria in a landmark judgment declared all current wards and models in Warri Federal Constituency, Delta State non existent and ordered for a recent delineation train. At present, what is going on, INEC regardless of the Supreme Court docket judgment has disregarded the judgment and is presently occurring with its voter registration train within the constituency, in such occasion, the place is the supremacy of the regulation?
“The regulation can’t be silent in some locations and be lively somewhere else simply to hunt perceived enemies.”
The EFCC should thread with warning. The Fubara case remains to be very recent in our recollections and Sylva is just not the one minister below Buhari, Nigeria belongs to all of us.”
The publish Why we declared Timipre Sylva wanted — EFCC appeared first on Vanguard News.
