Preceded by Werinipre Seibarugo Name Timipre Sylva Succeeded by Werinipre Seibarugo | Preceded by Goodluck Jonathan Succeeded by Nestor Binabo Party People's Democratic Party | |
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Born July 7, 1964 (age 59)
Okpoama-Brass, Brass LGA, Bayelsa, Nigeria ( 1964-07-07 ) Political party All Progressive Congress (APC) Education University of Port Harcourt | ||
Babatunde fashola speech at chief timipre sylva 50th birthday lecture
Timipre Sylva (born July 7, 1964) was the Governor of Bayelsa State in southern Nigeria.
Contents
- Babatunde fashola speech at chief timipre sylva 50th birthday lecture
- Bayelsa APC leader Timipre Sylva receives decampees
- Early life and background
- Political career
- References
Bayelsa APC leader Timipre Sylva receives decampees
Early life and background
Sylva was born in Brass, Bayelsa (formerly Rivers State, of which Bayelsa State was split off from in 1996), and was educated there and in Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria. He was a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly in the 1990s.
Political career
As a candidate of the People's Democratic Party Sylva won the Bayelsan gubernatorial election on May 29, 2007 and succeeded Goodluck Jonathan who went on to the position of Vice President. During his inauguration he said that Bayelsa was "the least developed industrially and commercially" of all 36 states.
Sylva's opponent in the 2007 election, Ebitimi Amgbare of the Action Congress, legally challenged his victory. Although the Bayelsa State Election Petitions Tribunal upheld Sylva's election, Amgbare took the matter to the Appeal Court in Port Harcourt which overturned the Tribunal's decision and nullified Sylva's election on April 15, 2008. The Appeal Court's five justices were unanimous in their decision and ordered that Speaker Werinipre Seibarugo be sworn in to replace Sylva as acting Governor, with a new election to be held within three months.
A new election was held on May 24, 2008, and Sylva, again running as the PDP candidate, was overwhelmingly elected with 588,204 out of about 598,000 votes. He was sworn in again on May 27, saying on this occasion that he would form a broadly inclusive unity government. On January 27, 2012, his tenure was terminated by the Supreme Court with an acting governor appointed to oversee the state until the election of February 2012.
