Ex-Governor of Bayelsa and Former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, has vehemently denied allegations of involvement in a failed coup plot against President Bola Tinubu’s government. The denial came after soldiers raided his residences in Abuja and Bayelsa, arresting his brother in the process.
Sylva and his wife Alayingi Sylva were said to be abroad during the raid, with Sylva undergoing a routine medical check-up in the UK and scheduled to attend a professional conference in Malaysia.
Sylva’s media aide, Julius Bokoru, attributed the raid and subsequent rumors to “desperate and narcissistic politicians” seeking to tarnish Sylva’s reputation ahead of the 2027 elections. Bokoru emphasized Sylva’s loyalty to President Tinubu, recalling his efforts in mobilizing the Bayelsa APC structure to unanimously endorse Tinubu for a second term.
“His Excellency, Chief Timipre Sylva, was in the United Kingdom for routine medical checks and is scheduled to proceed to Malaysia to attend a professional conference, Chief Sylva is a thoroughbred democrat whose political journey has been defined by faith in democratic processes and institutions.
From the 1990s, when he was first elected into the old Rivers State House of Assembly, to his tenure as governor of Bayelsa State, Sylva has achieved every milestone through transparent democratic engagement and the will of the people the rumours of his Excellency Chief Timipre Sylva being involved in the failed coup is nothing more than the handiwork of desperate and narcissistic politicians, already consumed by ambitions for 2027, who see Sylva as their last real obstacle—a man whose political presence and credibility continue to expose their dark, self-serving ambitions.” Bokoru said in a statement on Wednesday October 29.
Timipre Sylva served as the Governor of Bayelsa state from May 2008 to February 2012 before being appointed by Tinubu’s predecessor, Late General Muhammadu Buhari as Minister of state for Petroleum resources in 2019 occupying the post till 2023.
