Allegations Of Certificate Forgery: Group Drags Sylva To Court

Adeleye Kunle Reports

Transparency Advocacy for Development Initiative (TADI) has charged Chief Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum, with certificate forgery in the Federal High Court in Abuja, TrackNews Nigeria reports.

Transparency Advocacy For Development Initiative, TADI, said in an interview with the media in Abuja that there is an urgent need to ascertain the true identity of former Bayelsa State Governor and current Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva.

During an investigation that took the group to the United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, it was discovered that Chief Timipre Sylva instituted a libel case against one Jackson Ude, according to TADI Director of Compliance, Comrade Adamu Kabir Matazu.

“During the hearing, Chief Timipre Sylva signed a Verification of Interrogatories Answers dated April 20, 2022 and attached various academic documents to prove his identity.” A First School Leaving Certificate with No. 092915 dated 1st July, 1976 was issued to ANAGHA TIMIPERE who graduated from Ajeromi Central IA School, Araromi-Apapa, Lagos State, Nigeria. Chief Timipre Sylva also claims to be the holder of a West African Examination Council (WAEC) General Certificate of Education with Certificate No. MARLIN ANAGHA TIMIPRE received PO851528 and Candidate No. 21735215 in December 1981, with the following results: English Language – Grade 6; Literature in English – Grade 6; Religious Knowledge – Grade 3; History – Grade 3; and Commerce – Grade 6. We also discovered that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English with Second Class Honours (Upper Division) from the University of Port-Harcourt, issued to ANAGHA TIMIPRE MARLIN on August 19, 1986, and a Doctorate Degree in International Relations (Honoris Causa) from UBIS University in Geneva, Switzerland, issued to Chief Timipre Sylva on September 22, 2011.

“You will agree with us that the certificates mentioned above have visible anomalies and do not depict the true identity of CHIEF TIMPRE SYLVA; we are confused as to who CHIEF TIMPRE SYLVA is; who MARLIN ANAGHA TIMIPRE is; and who ANAGHA TIMIPERE is.” There is no evidence that CHIEF TIMPRE SYLVA ever changed his name from ANAGHA TIMIPRE MARLIN to TIMIPRE SYLVA after graduating from the University of Port-Harcourt in 1986. Our investigation also reveals that there is no record of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources having a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Discharge or Exemption Certificate, as the case may be, in the name of ANAGHA TIMIPRE MARLIN or TIMIPRE SYLVA. The question we, and other anti-corruption crusaders across Nigeria, are asking is: WHO IS CHIEF TIMIPRE SYLVA?

While we continue to inquire, records show that CHIEF TIMPRE SYLVA purposefully presented the aforementioned inconsistent academic documents under oath before the Bayelsa State Gubernatorial Screening Committee in 2007 and the Nigerian Senate and House of Representatives in 2019 for the purposes of screening into the positions of Governor of Bayelsa State and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, respectively.

“In order to obtain an answer to the rather disturbing question of WHO IS CHIEF TIMIPRE SYLVA, our Transparency Advocacy for Development Initiative (TADI) filed an Originating Summons before the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, Nigeria on Thursday, 1st September, 2022 against the Director-General, Department of State Services (DSS), Inspector-General of Police (IGP), and five other Defendants.” The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1563/2022, seeks, among other things, A DECLARATION that, according to the interpretation of Sections 366, 364, and 158 (2) of the Penal Code Act, Cap 532 Laws of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja 1990 read together with the Seventh Schedule of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), Mr. Timipre Sylva sued as 7th Defendant is overdue for arrest and

“We also pray the Honourable Court for AN ORDER OF MANDAMUS COMPELLING the Director-General of DSS and the IGP to perform their legal duties under Sections 1, 2 (3), and 8 of the National Security Agencies Act, 1986 read together with Instrument No. 1 of 1999, as well as Section 4 of the Police Act, 2020, by arresting and prosecuting Mr. Timipre Sylva sued as the 7th Defendant for the offences of identity theft, impersonation, Furthermore, we are requesting an ORDER REVOKING Mr. Timipre Sylva’s International Passport and prohibiting him from leaving Nigeria to seek refuge in London, Dubai, Canada, the United States of America, or any other part of the world in order to allow for his swift arrest and prosecution.

If the Honourable Court is gracious enough to grant all of our requests contained in the Originating Summons, we will be expecting AWARD OF EXEMPLARY DAMAGES IN THE AMOUNT OF N500,000,000 (Five Hundred Million Naira) jointly and or severally against the 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th Defendants for failure, refusal, or neglect to perform their legal duties by not properly profiling the 7th Defendant and providing verified information about the true

“We hope that the case will be assigned to a Presiding Judge and a hearing date set in the coming week.” As soon as that occurs, we will notify the media to gather in front of the Federal High Court Headquarters in Abuja for an in-depth briefing. In the meantime, we urge President Muhammadu Buhari, who is also a defendant in our case, to act quickly by removing CHIEF TIMPRE SYLVA from his cabinet on moral grounds. Let it not be that Mr. President’s enormous gains in the fight against corruption over the last seven years are undermined by a single man whose academic credentials and character are questionable. As it happened in the case of Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, former Minister of Finance, we advise CHIEF TIMPRE SYLVA to honourably resign his position as Minister of State for Petroleum Resources without further delay before he is put to shame” he said.

Meanwhile, all efforts to reach out to chief Sylva for necessary comments and reactions proof abortive.