Sylva quits APC, blasts party over lost ideals
Former Bayelsa State governor Timipre Sylva has resigned from the All Progressives Congress, APC, accusing the party of abandoning the principles on which it was founded.
Sylva announced his resignation in a letter addressed to the APC chairman in Ward 4, Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, on Monday.
*Timipre Sylva
Nkereuwem Effiong
Former Bayelsa State governor Timipre Sylva has resigned from the All Progressives Congress, APC, accusing the party of abandoning the principles on which it was founded.
Sylva announced his resignation in a letter addressed to the APC chairman in Ward 4, Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, on Monday.
The former governor said he took the decision after consulting his family, associates, colleagues and supporters.
“As a founding member of the APC, and one who joined other well-meaning Nigerians in building the party with sweat and money, it is deeply saddening to witness how the ideals we espoused have been so thoroughly and unrecognisably thwarted,” he said.
Sylva said he could no longer remain in a party whose current direction, in his view, had departed from the values that attracted him and others to it.
He also criticised what he described as a political mentality that suggests “all is fair in politics”, arguing that basic decency and morality should guide political conduct.
“The demands of basic decency and morality forbid it. Unfortunately, this mentality appears to underpin virtually every action, and even inaction, of this administration,” he said.
His resignation comes amid legal and political controversies involving him.
In November 2025, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission declared Sylva wanted over an alleged case involving conspiracy and dishonest conversion of $14,859,257.
He was also named among suspects in an alleged plot to overthrow President Bola Tinubu’s administration and is listed as a defendant in a 13-count charge filed by the Federal Government over the alleged coup plot.
Sylva, however, said those issues were not the stated reason for his resignation, which he linked instead to his dissatisfaction with the direction of the APC and the Federal Government.
“The present Government, formed under the banner of the APC we once loved, has disappointed most Nigerians. And I can see neither a credible attempt nor any possibility of a revamp,” he said.
Describing the APC as a “floundering ship”, Sylva said he had decided to leave rather than remain in a political organisation whose future he considered uncertain.
He expressed confidence that Nigerians would use the next general election to reject what he described as the current political “stranglehold” and vote in the national interest.
Sylva also sent a copy of his resignation letter to the EFCC, alleging that the anti-graft agency had failed to maintain its independence.
He accused the commission of conducting itself “more as an organ of the APC than as an institution of state”.
The former minister of state for petroleum resources acknowledged that his resignation could trigger greater pressure on him and his associates but said he was prepared to face the consequences.
“I am fully aware that this action of mine may invite a redoubled witch-hunt against me and my associates, but that is a risk I am willing to take,” he said.
