A detachment of personnel from the Nigerian Army on Saturday went for the arrest of the former governor of Bayelsa State, Mr Timipre Sylva over his alleged involvement in a plot to oust President Bola Tinubu through a coup which is currently under investigation by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA).
According to sources, the military operatives raided Sylva’s Maitama residence in Abuja after intelligence linked him to secret meetings allegedly held with some detained military officers.
In his absence, his younger brother, named Paga, who is his special assistant on domestic affairs, was arrested.
Punch quoted sources as saying that the former governor and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had travelled outside Nigeria during the operation.
They said he was planning to return to the country when he heard that the coup leaders had been arrested. He therefore shelved his plan to return home.
“Sylva’s Abuja home was raided on Saturday, but he wasn’t around. His younger brother, Paga, who is the SA, Domestic, and the driver, were arrested. Investigators believe Sylva allegedly funded the coup plot. Sylva was abroad and was preparing to leave for Nigeria when he got wind of the arrest of the coup leaders. So, he stayed back.”
The raid was also said to have been extended to Sylva’s home in Bayelsa.
“Nigerian Army special team ransacked the home of Timipre Sylva, who is believed to have fled Nigeria. He is the south-south former governor frequently mentioned in the case. The operation also extended to his Bayelsa residence,” Sahara Reporters quoted a military source as saying.
Another security insider said while no official statement had been issued regarding the raid, the action was “not random” but “a direct response to intelligence linking certain political figures to the alleged plotters.”
The development came some days after President Bola Tinubu replaced the service chiefs, a move that followed reports of a coup attempt circulating earlier this month.
In the shake-up, Tinubu appointed Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede as Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Waidi Shaibu as Chief of Army Staff, Rear Admiral Idi Abbas as Chief of Naval Staff, Air Vice Marshal Sunday Aneke as Chief of Air Staff and Major General Emmanuel Undiandeye as Chief of Defence Intelligence.
The reshuffle, announced on October 24, took place about three weeks after the Nigerian Army said 16 officers were being investigated for “indiscipline and breach of service regulations.”
The detained Army, Navy and Air Force officers have been held for over three weeks in an undisclosed Abuja facility.
Although the military described it as a “routine exercise,” local media later reported that the officers’ arrest was tied to an alleged coup plot, a claim the army denied.
Tinubu’s decision to shake up the top military hierarchy has, however, fueled fresh speculation about deepening political tensions within the country’s security establishment.
Analysts are of the view that the alleged plot and subsequent arrests may have political undertones, potentially involving figures linked to former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Sylva, it would be recalled, was also Buhari’s close ally and served as the minister of state for petroleum resources between 2019 and 2023.
He was also the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the November 2023 Bayelsa election, which he lost to the Mr Douye Diri of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who recently defected to the APC.
