A former deputy national publicity secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, has called on the National Assembly, Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and Department of State Services (DSS), among others, to urgently commence investigation of the immediate-past Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, over alleged certificate forgery and identity theft.
Sylva, who is a former Governor of Bayelsa State, recently emerged the gubernatorial candidate of the APC in Bayelsa State for November 23 election.
Frank made the requests in a petition he addressed through his solicitors to the Senate President, Speaker, House of Representatives, Inspector General of Police and the Director General of the DSS, among others, on the matter.
In the petition, dated March 31, 2023, and signed by the Principal Partner of Graylaw Practice LP, Edward Omaga Esq., Frank urged the National Assembly to summon Sylva and officials from his alma maters in Nigeria and Switzerland to explain the inconsistencies in the identity of the politician.
According to the petitioner, Sylva’s primary school certificate carried his name as Anagha Timipere as evident in documents the ex-Minister filed before a court in the United States as part of an ongoing defamation suit brought by his lawyers.
He said Anagha Timipere was different from Marlin Anagha Timipre, which is the name on Sylva’s WAEC certificate.
He claimed that the ex-petroleum minister had also obtained his Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Port-Harcourt, with the certificate bearing Anagha Timipre Marlin.
He insisted that this clearly contradicted Sylva’s 2011 doctoral degree certificate in International Relations from Ubis University, Switzerland, with the name Chief Timipre Sylva.
He further claimed that Sylva neither participated in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme nor did he obtain an exemption certificate as required by law.
The petition reads in part: “Obviously, the certificates mentioned above have visible anomalies and do not depict the true identity of CHIEF TIMPRE SYLVA. It is confusing as to who CHIEF TIMIPRE SYLVA is; who ANAGHA TIMIPRE MARLIN is; who MARLIN ANAGHA TIMIPRE is and who ANAGHA TIMIPERE is.
“There is no evidence anywhere showing that CHIEF TIMPRE SYLVA ever changed his name from ANAGHA TIMIPRE MARLIN to TIMIPRE SYLVA in 1986 after he purportedly graduated from University of Port Harcourt.
“Investigation by our client reveals that there is also no record that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources has National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Discharge or Exemption Certificate, as the case may be, either in the name of ANAGHA TIMIPRE MARLIN or TIMIPRE SYLVA.”
The obvious discrepancies in the documents caused the petitioner to insist that Sylva may have forged his academic certificates or had them stolen from a third party, “an offence that violates Section 438 of the Criminal Code Act and carries a 14-year prison sentence.”
He urged both chambers of the National Assembly to summon the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), and State Security Services (SSS) officials for their roles in screening and approving Sylva’s ministerial appointment as well as his successful governorship bid in 2007.
He claimed that after learning that his identity inconsistencies could imperil his governorship quest, Sylva filed processes to change his name to Timipre Sylva in an official Government Gazette of May 12, 2022.
He said before seeking to change his name in an official gazette, Sylva had already served as Bayelsa State governor between 2007 and 2012 and also Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, among other top-level state and federal positions.
Additionally, the petitioner prayed the National Assembly to summon Sylva and officials from all the academic institutions that issued him certificates to confirm the actual identity of who they awarded the academic certificates.
The institutions include Ajeromi Central School in Apapa, Lagos, West African Examination Council (WAEC), University of Port-Harcourt and Ubis University, Switzerland.
He urged the Nigerian Immigration Service, through the National Assembly, to seize Sylva’s International Passport to prevent him from fleeing the country and seeking refuge in Western nations like U.S., Dubai, Canada, etc.
In another petition to the Governor of Bayelsa State and Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Frank who is the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) Ambassador to East Africa and Middle East, called on the State Government to urgently commence investigation to unravel the authenticity of certificates and true identity of Sylva.
He called on the state to derecognise Sylva as former Governor of the State if found to have either forged his certificates or altered his identity.
But, the immediate-past Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, denied all the allegations, saying they were handiwork of blackmailers.
Horatius Egua, Senior Adviser, Media and Communications to Sylva, said: “In the past few months, there have been series of attacks and campaigns of calumny against Chief Timipre Sylva in the media, falsely accusing him of all sorts of misdemeanour, including falsification of certificate and defamation.
“A careful analysis of all the publications reveal an orchestrated attempt by some disgruntled elements and known blackmailers to dampen the political enthusiasm and commitment of Chief Timipre Sylva to the call to continue his service to the nation and Bayelsa State in particular.
“Since emerging as the All Progressives Congress (APC) Gubernatorial candidate for Bayelsa State, a certain Timi Frank, a political prostitute and jobber has been busy making unsubstantiated allegation against Chief Timipre Sylva, doing the bidding of his pay master.
“Through his attention seeking and imbecilic allegations, he has thrown overboard decency and resorted to gutter tactics in confusing the ordinary person on the street.
“Ordinarily, Chief Sylva would not want to dignify the character behind this defamatory publications with any response but for the purpose of letting the general public, especially the good people of Bayelsa know the reasons for these barrage of attacks, we have decided to address a few issues raised in the publication.
“On the alleged use of multiple names by Chief Timipre Sylva, recalled that a Federal High Court, in Abuja, in 2022 dismissed the alleged certificate forgery case filed by the Transparency Advocacy for Development Initiative, TADI, against Chief Timipre Sylva.
“The court in a copy of its ruling dated March 8th dismissed the matter following an application by the lawyer to the plaintiff, Edward Onaga, seeking the withdrawal of the case.
“TADI had dragged Sylva to court demanding his suspension from office and prosecution for allegedly giving false evidence and presenting false academic credentials for all political positions he held so far.
“The group claimed it found that the Minister mismatched names on his academic credentials among other allegations.
“It is worthy to note that Chief Timipre Sylva has already sworn an affidavit in respect of the identity issue and has gone ahead to do a Deed Poll, which has already been gazetted. So all legal processes have been duly followed.
“So for anyone to impute that Chief Sylva did not go to school or falsified his certificate is a clear demonstration of a man who suffers from memory loss. It’s only an imbecile that can concort such mischievous and misleading information to sell to the public.
“Anyone who is in doubt about Chief Sylva’s academic qualifications or certification can also go to the University of Port Harcourt where he graduated in 1986. His classmates are everywhere in NIgeria. Rotimi Amaechi former Minister of Transportation is one of his classmates and the Abia State Governor-elect who is the current president of the University Of Port Harcourt Alumni was a year behind Chief Sylva, at the university.
“These unfounded allegations against Chief Sylva are clearly borne out of the minds of those elements who could do nothing to halt the impending move to take Bayelsa state from those who have kept the state on its kneels in the last decade.
“Chief Sylva has resolved not to be intimidated or blackmailed into buckling down because of any sponsored falsehood and harassment from any quarters.
“Nigeria belongs to all of us and we must collectively reject the pull down syndrome of the few who do not see anything good about the Nigerian State.
“This is the time for all of us to join hands together with well-meaning Nigerians to build a formidable nation where every Nigerian has a stake.”
