BREAKING: Ex-Bayelsa gov Timipre Sylva dumps APC, says party has lost its founding ideals

Former Bayelsa State Governor and ex-Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, has resigned from the All Progressives Congress (APC) with immediate effect.

Sylva announced his resignation in a letter dated August 31, 2026, addressed to the APC chairman in Ward 4, Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

In the letter titled “Letter of Resignation from the All Progressives Congress (APC),” the former governor said he reached the decision after consultations with his family, associates, colleagues and supporters.

Sylva, who described himself as a founding member of the APC, expressed disappointment with the direction of the party, arguing that the ideals upon which it was established had been “thoroughly and unrecognisably thwarted.”

He said he could no longer remain in a party whose leaders, according to him, appeared to operate on the belief that “all is fair in politics.”

The former governor argued that such an approach was incompatible with basic decency and morality, while accusing the APC-led government of disappointing the majority of Nigerians.

> “The present Government, formed under the banner of the APC we once loved, has disappointed the vast majority of Nigerians. And I can see neither a credible attempt nor any possibility of a revamp,” he stated.

Sylva said he was therefore left with no choice but to leave what he described as a “floundering ship” whose fate appeared to have been determined by its “load of iniquities.”

He also expressed confidence that Nigerians would use the next election to “vote for Nigeria” and free the country from what he described as a “stranglehold.”

Sylva Takes Swipe at EFCC

In one of the strongest parts of the resignation letter, Sylva deliberately copied the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), accusing the agency of recently conducting itself more like an organ of the APC than an institution of the state.

> “I am deliberately putting the EFCC in copy of this letter because, of late, it has conducted itself more as an organ of the APC than as an institution of State,” he wrote.

Sylva also acknowledged that his decision to leave the ruling party could trigger what he described as a “redoubled witch-hunt” against him and his associates.

However, he said he was prepared to accept the consequences of his decision.

The former governor concluded his letter with a declaration of patriotism, stating: “Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

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