Former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, says the allegation of certificate forgery against him are a mere attempt to “dampen” his political pursuits.
He said this in a statement on Wednesday by his media aide, Horatius Egua, which was titled: ‘We Will Not Allow Blackmailers Destroy Sylva‘s Name.’
The statement said, “In the past few months, there have been a series of attacks and campaigns of calumny against Chief Timipre Sylva in the media, falsely accusing him of all sorts of misdemeanour, including falsification of certificate and defamation.
“A careful analysis of all the publications reveals an orchestrated attempt by some disgruntled elements and known blackmailers to dampen the political enthusiasm and commitment of Chief Timipre Sylva to the call to continue his service to the nation and Bayelsa State in particular.
“Ordinarily, Chief Sylva would not want to dignify the character behind these defamatory publications with any response but for the purpose of letting the general public, especially the good people of Bayelsa know the reasons for these barrage of attacks, we have decided to address a few issues raised in the publication.”
On the alleged use of multiple names by Sylva, Sylva recalled that a Federal High Court, in Abuja, in 2023 had dismissed the alleged certificate forgery case filed by the Transparency Advocacy for Development Initiative against him.
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“The court in a copy of its ruling dated March 8th dismissed the matter following an application by the lawyer to the plaintiff, Edward Onaga, seeking the withdrawal of the case.”
The group had claimed it found that the minister mismatched names on his academic credentials among other allegations.
However, Sylva said he had already sworn an affidavit in respect of the identity issue, including conducting a deed poll, which he said has already been gazetted.
“So all legal processes have been duly followed.
“So for anyone to impute that Chief Sylva did not go to school or falsified his certificate is a clear demonstration of a man who suffers from memory loss. It’s only an imbecile that can concort such mischievous and misleading information to sell to the public,” he said.
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