Timipre Sylva, a former Bayelsa State governor and ex-minister of state for petroleum resources, has resigned from Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress while in hiding, accusing the party of abandoning its founding ideals and the Tinubu administration of disappointing most Nigerians.
Sylva announced his resignation in a letter dated August 31 and addressed to the APC chairman of Ward 4 in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, delivered electronically. Copies were sent to the party’s national chairman, the APC’s Bayelsa State chairman and the head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
A founding member of the APC, Sylva said he could no longer remain in a party whose leadership had embraced the idea that “all is fair in politics.” He said the decision followed wide consultations with family, associates, colleagues and supporters, and accused the EFCC of operating like “an organ of the APC.”
“The present government, formed under the banner of the APC we once loved, has disappointed the vast majority of Nigerians,” Sylva said, adding that he saw no credible prospect of reform and had chosen to “jettison a floundering ship.” He said he expected Nigerians to vote for change in the 2027 general election.
The resignation comes as Sylva remains wanted by the EFCC over an alleged $14.86 million fraud case and is named among 13 defendants in a federal case tied to an alleged 2025 plot to overthrow President Bola Tinubu’s government. Six defendants in the broader case were arraigned on treason, terrorism and money laundering charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja in April. Reports in August alleged Sylva helped finance the plot, a claim he has denied along with the coup allegations more broadly.
Sylva served as Bayelsa governor from 2007 to 2012 and later as petroleum minister under President Muhammadu Buhari. He was the APC’s candidate in Bayelsa’s 2023 governorship election, which he lost to incumbent Douye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party.
