By Okechukwu Nnodim
The controversy surrounding the rumoured resignation of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, was brought to an end on Friday after the Presidency confirmed Sylva’s resignation.
Special Assistant to the President on Digital Communications, Bashir Ahmad, disclosed this via his verified Twitter handle, adding that 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 had reported on Friday that there was controversy over the resignation of Sylva, as senior officials of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources refused to confirm whether 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 April 14, 2023, governorship primaries, they refused to confirm his resignation.
“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 for the office of the governor of Bayelsa State,” an impeccable source at the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, who requested not to be named due to lack of authorisation, had stated.
Sylva had served as Governor of Bayelsa in the past, for one full term between 2008 and 2012. At the time, he was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The PDP, which is now an opposition party, was at the time of Sylva’s reign as governor, the party running the Federal Government.
It was recently reported that some APC members in Bayelsa State had called on the national leadership of the party to disqualify Sylva from contesting the governorship primaries of the party 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 at the time the minister was screened, he had not resigned. (Punch)