By Ese Oghenegueke
Julius Bokoru, media aide to former Petroleum Minister Timipre Sylva, has alleged that there is a “coordinated and calculated political onslaught’ against him by those who are not comfortable with his political dominance.
In a statement posted on Facebook Monday night, Bokoru described the declaration of his boss wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) through a social-media post as “unceremonious” and lacking formal protocol, claiming it shifted from an earlier “coup” whispers to new fiscal charges orchestrated by Sylva’s political enemies.
Bokoru said Sylva, currently in the UK for medical checks, will honour the EFCC invitation upon return. He insisted the ex-minister has “clean hands” and never diverted public funds, calling the refinery project in question fully transparent and documented.
The full statement reads:
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday took to social media to announce, quite unceremoniously, that it had declared Chief Timipre Sylva wanted. 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. The same shadowy forces that once sought to criminalise Sylva politically now appear to have reinvented themselves as fiscal crusaders. There must, undoubtedly, be an explanation for this cinematic transition—from rumour to reinvention, from one carefully scripted accusation to another.
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. 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.
Julius Bokoru
Special Assistant on Media and Public Affairs
to Chief Timipre Sylva
10 November 2025
