Timipre Sylva

Timipre Sylva
Governor of Bayelsa State
In office
27 May 2008  27 January 2012
Preceded by Werinipre Seibarugo
Succeeded by Nestor Binabo
In office
29 May 2007  16 April 2008
Preceded by Goodluck Jonathan
Succeeded by Werinipre Seibarugo
Personal details
Born (1964-07-07) July 7, 1964
Okpoama-Brass, Brass LGA, Bayelsa, Nigeria
Political party

All Progressive Congress (APC)

Children = Timipre sylva(14), Pagabio sylva (12), Taria Sylva(17)

Timipre Sylva (born July 7, 1964)[1] was the Governor of Bayelsa State in southern Nigeria.

Early life and background

Sylva was born in Brass, Bayelsa[1] (formerly Rivers State, of which Bayelsa State was split off from in 1996), and was educated there and in Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria. He was a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly in the 1990s.[2]

Political career

As a candidate of the People's Democratic Party Sylva won the Bayelsan gubernatorial election on May 29, 2007 and succeeded Goodluck Jonathan who went on to the position of Vice President.[3] During his inauguration he said that Bayelsa was "the least developed industrially and commercially" of all 36 states.[3]

Sylva's opponent in the 2007 election, Ebitimi Amgbare of the Action Congress, legally challenged his victory. Although the Bayelsa State Election Petitions Tribunal upheld Sylva's election, Amgbare took the matter to the Appeal Court in Port Harcourt which overturned the Tribunal's decision and nullified Sylva's election on April 15, 2008. The Appeal Court's five justices were unanimous in their decision and ordered that Speaker Werinipre Seibarugo be sworn in to replace Sylva as acting Governor, with a new election to be held within three months.[4]

A new election was held on May 24, 2008, and Sylva, again running as the PDP candidate, was overwhelmingly elected with 588,204 out of about 598,000 votes.[5] He was sworn in again on May 27, saying on this occasion that he would form a broadly inclusive unity government.[6] On January 27, 2012, his tenure was terminated by the Supreme Court with an acting governor appointed to oversee the state until the election of February 2012.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 "Official Portal of Bayelsa State – The Governor". Bayelsa, Nigeria. Retrieved 28 August 2010.
  2. Sylva, Timipre (2007-03-17). "Bayelsa: I'll Treat Sycophants As My Greatest Enemies". Nigerian Vanguard. PR Newswire. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-06-09.
  3. 1 2 "Sylva Laments Poor Industrial Condition Of Bayelsa". Niger Delta Standard. Archived from the original on 2007-02-24. Retrieved 2007-06-09.
  4. "Nigerian gorvenor loses his job by court order", Panapress (afrik.com), April 16, 2008.
  5. Mahmoud Muhammad, "PDP Sweeps Sokoto, Bayelsa Again", Leadership (allAfrica.com), May 26, 2008.
  6. Segun James, "Sylva Takes Oath of Office, Embraces Unity Govt", This Day, May 28, 2008.
  7. Acting Governors Take Over in Adamawa, Bayelsa, Cross Rivers, Kogi, Sokoto EIE Nigeria, January 30, 2012
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