The controversy over the rumored resignation of Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Chief Timipre Sylva was resolved on Friday when the Presidency confirmed that he had indeed stepped down. Bashir Ahmad, the President’s Special Assistant on Digital Communications, announced the news on his verified Twitter account, stating that Sylva resigned to pursue his ambition of becoming governor of Bayelsa State. “Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and former Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva, has resigned his appointment to contest in the next Bayelsa governorship election,” Ahmad tweeted.
Earlier on Friday, reports highlighted the uncertainty surrounding Sylva’s resignation, noting that senior officials at the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources would not confirm whether their boss had stepped down. Although the officials acknowledged that the All Progressives Congress (APC) requires a minister to resign at least 30 days before a primary—scheduled for April 14—they declined to verify Sylva’s resignation. A ministry source said, “I have not seen his resignation letter and cannot confirm to you if he has resigned. But you know the rule of the party is that one must have resigned for at least 30 days before the primaries. So if he has sent his resignation letter to the President, I cannot confirm, but the fact remains that he is running for the office of the governor of Bayelsa State.”
Sylva served as governor of Bayelsa from 2008 to 2012 on the Peoples Democratic Party platform. Recent reports indicated that some APC members in the state urged the party’s national leadership to disqualify Sylva from the governorship primary, citing his alleged failure to resign from his ministerial post. A petition from party members representing 43 wards across Ekeremor, Ogbia, Sagbama, Kolokuma/Opokuma, and Southern Ijaw Local Government Areas claimed that, at the time of his screening, Sylva had not yet resigned.
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