Alleged Coup Plot: Sylva’s Aide Confirms Raid On Residence By Soldiers, Says They Inflicted Damage

By Adesina Soyooye

“The operatives, suspected to be from Defence Headquarters inflicted considerable damage to Sylva’s property when they raided it” – Bokoru, Sylva’s Media Aide

Chief Julius Bokoru, Special Assistant Media and Public Affairs to the immediate past Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre  Sylva, has confirmed that the residence of his Principal was raided by soldiers.

Sylva’s name has been linked to an alleged Coup plot aimed at overthrowing the President Bola Tinubu  Government.

16 Military Officers are already under arrest, but the Military denies their arrest  has any connection with any aborted Coup plans. However, the social media is awash with the allegation that one of those arrested fingered Sylva as an alleged financier of the plot, an allegation for which Sylva’s home was raided.

Sylva’s aide while distancing him from any Coup plot, and dismissing the allegation as political  mischief, said the former Minister is not on the run but on a routine medical check-up in the United Kingdom with his wife, after which he would proceed to Malaysia for a professional conference.

He, however, confirmed that Sylva’s home was raided by some operatives from the Defence Headquarters who he said inflicted damages to the house.

“For the avoidance of doubt, it is true that the residence of His Excellency, Chief Timipre Sylva, was recently subjected to a raid by individuals believed to be from operatives of the Defence Headquarters. During the operation, considerable damage was inflicted on the property.

“As of  my last communication with His Excellency, he was undergoing routine medical checks in the United Kingdom, after which he was scheduled to attend a professional conference in Malaysia”.

Chief Bokoru did not say why Sylva’s residence was raided by soldiers as he said the raiders did not disclose why.

Sylva was a one-term Governor of Bayelsa State.

In 2023 while serving as Minister of State Petroleum Resources under the late President Muhammadu Buhari, Sylva purchased the forms to contest the Presidential election against then aspirant Bola Tinubu. He, however, chickened out before the Primaries and went back to his ministerial job. Since he left office, he has been conspicuously absent from most political affairs, especially, after he, also, lost in the 2023 Governorship Primary in Bayelsa.