The controversy surrounding the rumoured resignation of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, ended on Friday when the Presidency confirmed his resignation.
The Special Assistant to the President on Digital Communications, Bashir Ahmad, disclosed this via his verified Twitter handle. He said Sylva resigned to pursue his governorship ambition.
“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.
The PUNCH reported on Friday that there was controversy over Sylva’s resignation, as senior officials of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources refused to confirm whether or not their boss had resigned.
The report stated that though the officials admitted that the rule of the All Progressives Congress required the minister to have resigned about 30 days before the primary, slated for April 14, they refused to confirm his resignation.
A source at the ministry had 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 the governor between 2008 and 2012 on the Peoples Democratic Party platform.
Some reports said recently that some APC members in the state called on the national leadership of the party to disqualify Sylva from contesting the governorship primary over his refusal to resign his position as a minister.
The report stated that party members from 43 Wards in Ekeremor, Ogbia, Sagbama, Kolokuma/Opokuma, and Southern Ijaw Local Government Areas of the state, in a petition to the party national leadership, pointed out that as of the time the minister was screened, he had not resigned.
