DEFENCE, ARMY HEADQUARTERS SILENT OVER ALLEGED RAID ON TIMIPRE SYLVA’S RESIDENCE
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By Aishat Momoh. O.
The Defence Headquarters and Nigerian Army have remained silent following viral social media reports alleging that armed personnel stormed the Abuja residence of former Bayelsa State Governor and ex-Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, over an alleged connection to a coup plot currently under investigation.
The reports, which surfaced on Tuesday, claimed that a special military team conducted the raid at Sylva’s Maitama home in the early hours of the day, citing alleged intelligence linking him to secret meetings with some detained military officers accused of plotting to overthrow the government.
Efforts by Vanguard to obtain clarification from Brigadier General Tukur Gusau, Director of Defence Information, and Lt. Col Appolonia Anele, Acting Director of Army Public Relations, were unsuccessful as both officers did not respond to calls or messages.
According to circulating reports quoting unnamed sources, “The Nigerian Army special team ransacked the home of Timipre Sylva, who is believed to have fled Nigeria. He is the South-South former governor frequently mentioned in the case. His brother, Paga, was picked up during the raid.”
Another anonymous security source was quoted as saying that while the military had yet to issue any official statement, the operation was “not random” but based on credible intelligence allegedly linking certain political figures to the detained officers.
The reports also claimed that 16 military officers have been held incommunicado for over three weeks in an undisclosed Abuja facility. Relatives of the detained officers reportedly feared they had been kidnapped due to the military’s silence.
“It’s been 18 days since those 16 officers were detained in an undisclosed location. At first, we thought our brother was kidnapped before finding out what transpired from his friend who works in the NSA office,” a family source reportedly said.
A retired senior officer, reacting to the development, questioned the credibility of the arrests, suggesting possible political undertones.
“If the military were truly conducting a disciplinary operation, over 10,000 cases could emerge. Why only 16 officers, and why hand them to the DIA? This smells of politics. There’s clearly more going on behind the scenes,” he said.
As of press time, neither the Defence Headquarters nor the Nigerian Army had issued an official statement regarding the alleged raid or the reported arrests.
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