MINISTER of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, has reportedly resigned from his post to contest the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket for the Bayelsa State governorship election.
According to Reuters, Sylva handed his resignation letter to President Muhammadu Buhari and stopped coming to the office last week.
Also, Punch newspaper reported that senior officials in Sylva’s ministry have refused to confirm or deny his resignation.
However, the Presidency on Friday, March 31, confirmed the minister’s resignation. Special Assistant to the President on Digital Communications, Bashir Ahmad, confirmed the development in a tweet in his official Twitter handle,
Ahmad tweeted: “Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, and former Bayelsa state governor, H.E. Timipre Sylva, has resigned his appointment to contest in the next Bayelsa governorship election.”
The APC holds a primary on April 14 to select its candidate for the gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State.
This is not the first time Sylva has contested a gubernatorial election. In 2007, he won the Bayelsa State gubernatorial election under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and served for one term between 2008 and 2012. He was later replaced by an acting governor following the nullification of his election by the Appeal Court in Port Harcourt.
Sylva was again elected governor in a new election held on May 24, 2008, under the PDP banner.
However, his tenure was terminated by the Supreme Court on January 27, 2012, and an acting governor was appointed to oversee the state until the election of February 2012.
He was appointed Minister of State for Petroleum Resources by President Buhari in 2019.
Meanwhile, party members from 43 Wards in Ekeremor, Ogbia, Sagbama, Kolokuma/Opokuma, and Southern Ijaw Local Government Areas of Bayelsa State hsve called on the APC national leadership to disqualify Sylva.
They argued that the former minister had not resigned at the time of his screening for the governorship primary.
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