The Department of State Service, DSS has been petitioned by former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Timi Frank, on the ground that the former Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipreye Sylva, forged his certificate.
The petition, which was addressed to the Director General of the Department of State Services, was copied to the National Assembly and asked that Sylva be investigated in the national interest.
In a statement he sent to DAILY POST in Abuja on Wednesday, Frank alleged that the former Governor of Bayelsa State, currently the Bayelsa governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the coming November election, was also involved in identity theft.
The revelation, according to him, was contained in the petition raised by his solicitors.
In the petition, dated March 31, 2023, and signed by the Principal Partner of Graylaw Practice LP, Edward Omaga Esq., Frank urged the National Assembly to summon Sylva and officials from his alma maters in Nigeria and Switzerland to explain the inconsistencies in the identity of the politician.
He said: “Sylva’s primary school certificate carried his name as Anagha Timipere as evident in documents the ex-Minister filed before a court in the United States as part of an ongoing defamation suit brought by his lawyers.
Anagha Timipere was different from Marlin Anagha Timipre, which is the name on Sylva’s WAEC certificate.
“The ex-petroleum minister had also obtained his bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Port-Harcourt, with the certificate bearing Anagha Timipre Marlin.”
The petitioner further explained that Sylva’s doctoral degree in International Relations, which he claimed to have obtained from Ubis University, Switzerland, bears Chief Timi Sylva.
He said Sylva did not participate in the mandatory National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, scheme and did not obtain an exemption certificate as required by law.
The petition reads in part: “Obviously, the certificates mentioned above have visible anomalies and do not depict the true identity of CHIEF TIMPRE SYLVA. It is confusing as to who CHIEF TIMIPRE SYLVA is; who ANAGHA TIMIPRE MARLIN is; who MARLIN ANAGHA TIMIPRE is and who ANAGHA TIMIPERE is.
“There is no evidence anywhere showing that CHIEF TIMPRE SYLVA ever changed his name from ANAGHA TIMIPRE MARLIN to TIMIPRE SYLVA in 1986 after he purportedly graduated from University of Port Harcourt.”
