SOLDIERS reportedly raided the Abuja residence of former Bayelsa State governor and immediate past minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, in connection with an alleged coup plot under investigation by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA).
The Reporters, an online medium, reported on Tuesday, October 28, that the raid was carried out by a special military team at Sylva’s home in the Maitama District of Abuja, following intelligence linking him to secret meetings allegedly held with some detained senior military officers accused of plotting a coup.
One top military source said Sylva was believed to have fled the country before the operation, during which the soldiers ransacked his home in search of incrminating evidence.
His brother, identified simply as Paga, was reportedly arrested during the raid, which was also carried out at his Bayelsa residence.
While no official statement has been released, another senior security official told the Reporters that the action was not random, but a direct response to credible intelligence linking certain political figures to the alleged coup plot, first published by SaharaRepoters, which revealled that about 16 senior officers from the Army, Navy and Air Force had been detained by the DIA over the plot.
The officers were said to have been held incommunicado for over three weeks in an undisclosed location in Abuja, with their families initially fearing that they may have been kidnapped.
While the military has since dismissed the coup plot report as false and reiterated loyalty to the President and Commander-in-Chief, Bola Tinubu, there have been speculations surrounding his recent sacking of service chiefs and appointment of new ones.
Sylva was the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the November 2023 Bayelsa election, which he lost to Governor Douye Diri, then of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
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