Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank, has called on the National Assembly, the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services 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 once served as Governor of Bayelsa State recently emerged as the governorship candidate of the APC in Bayelsa State.
Frank made this request 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.
But in reaction, Senior Adviser Media and Communications to
Timipre Sylva, Horatius Egua, said the Bayelsa APC governorship candidate will not allow blackmailers to destroy his reputation.
According to Egua, a careful analysis of all the publications reveal an orchestrated attempt by some elements and known blackmailers to dampen the political enthusiasm and commitment of Sylva to the call to continue his service to the nation and Bayelsa State in particular.
On the alleged use of multiple names by Timipre Sylva, he 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 Sylva.
