SILVA, FUGITIVE EX-GOVERNOR, BRANDS TINUBU’S APC ‘IRREDEEMABLE’, QUITS PARTY

Former Bayelsa State Governor and ex-Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, has launched a blistering attack on the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, describing the ruling party as a “floundering ship” weighed down by what he called an “irredeemable load of iniquities.”

Sylva announced his immediate resignation from the APC in a letter addressed to the party chairman in Ward 4, Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, saying the party he helped to build had abandoned the ideals and principles upon which it was founded.

The former governor, who said his decision followed wide consultations with his family, associates, colleagues and sympathisers, delivered what appeared to be one of the most damning indictments yet by a prominent founding member of the APC against the Tinubu administration.

“Having consulted widely with my family, associates, colleagues and sympathisers, I wish to formally tender my resignation from the All Progressives Congress (APC), with immediate effect,” Sylva said.

“As a founding member of the APC, and one who joined other well-meaning Nigerians in building the Party with sweat and money, it is deeply saddening to witness how the ideals we espoused have been so thoroughly and unrecognisably thwarted.”

Sylva, who served as Minister of State for Petroleum under former President Muhammadu Buhari, said he could no longer remain in a political party whose leadership appeared to operate on the principle that “all is fair in politics.”

In a stinging rebuke of the current administration, he argued that politics could not be divorced from morality and basic human decency.

“All cannot be fair in any endeavour of life. The demands of basic decency and morality forbid it,” he said.

“Unfortunately, this mentality appears to underpin virtually every action, and even inaction, of this administration.”

The former governor declared that the Tinubu-led government, elected on the platform of the APC, had failed to meet the expectations of Nigerians, insisting that he saw neither a convincing effort nor any realistic prospect of a turnaround.

“The present Government, formed under the banner of the APC we once loved, has disappointed the vast majority of Nigerians. And I can see neither a credible attempt nor any possibility of a revamp,” he said.

Sylva consequently announced that he was abandoning what he described as a sinking political vessel.

“I therefore have no other choice than to jettison a floundering ship whose fate appears to have been sealed by its irredeemable load of iniquities,” he declared.

He expressed confidence that Nigerians would use the forthcoming general election to reject the ruling party and what he described as the country’s current “stranglehold.”

“I am confident that in the upcoming general election, Nigerians will vote for Nigeria and free the country from the current stranglehold,” he said.

Sylva’s resignation comes amid serious legal and political controversies surrounding the former governor.

He was declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in November 2025 in connection with allegations involving conspiracy and the dishonest conversion of $14,859,257.

He is also facing allegations relating to an alleged plot to topple the Federal Government, with investigations and legal proceedings involving military personnel and civilians reportedly linked to the matter.

However, apparently undeterred by the allegations hanging over him, Sylva accused the EFCC of acting like an extension of the ruling APC rather than an independent institution of the Nigerian state.

He said he had forwarded a copy of his resignation letter to the anti-graft agency.

“I have sent a copy of the resignation letter to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, alleging that the agency has conducted itself more as an organ of the APC than as an institution of State,” he said.

Sylva said he was aware that his decision to openly break ranks with the APC could worsen his troubles with authorities.

“I am fully aware that this action of mine may invite a redoubled witch-hunt against me and my associates, but that is a risk I am willing to take,” he added.

The resignation marks a dramatic political rupture for Sylva, who was among prominent figures involved in building the APC into the dominant political force that eventually displaced the Peoples Democratic Party at the federal level in 2015.

Ironically, Sylva himself had once been a major figure in the PDP before his turbulent political journey took him to the APC.

His latest outburst, however, represents a stunning reversal of fortune and a brutal verdict from within the ranks of the ruling party.

For a man who says he helped build the APC “with sweat and money,” Sylva’s decision to abandon the party with such devastating language raises fresh questions about the growing cracks within Nigeria’s ruling political establishment as the country moves closer to another general election.