News
TIMIPRE SYLVA AND HIS PENCHANT FOR NOTORIETY: LIGHTING IS ABOUT TO STRIKE AGAIN

TIMIPRE SYLVA AND HIS PENCHANT FOR NOTORIETY: LIGHTING IS ABOUT TO STRIKE AGAIN
By: Jonathan Orumiebi Andabai
Lightening, they say, never strikes at the same place twice, but for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa, it appears this saying may not be the case. This is because the party’s candidate in the November 11 governorship election, Mr. Timipre Sylva and his running mate, Mr. Joshua Maciver are both tainted. A situation which forced political analyst in the state to ask: “Why is the APC self-inflicting yet another injury on itself? If that can of worm is opened it will be so toxic that it could extinct the political career of the Okpoma born politician”.
The 2019 gubernatorial debacle which lead to lost of the governorship seems to be unfolding again in even a worse dimension as Sylva has in a most controversial move picked Mr. Joshua Maciver, who was a jailbreaker as his running mate. Mr. Maciver has since confessed to breaking jail while servicing a ten years jail term over multiple felonies. The unrepentant felon has boastfully stated in a video he personally posted that should the situation arise; he will do the same thing again. “I have no regrets” he stated.
For Sylva, it has been established by a Federal High Court in Abuja that his candidature shall amount to a breach of the 1999 constitution should he contest and win the November, 11 2023 Governorship elections. The judgement further stated that apart from being sworn in two times he will be nine years in office having served five years in his previous spell as governor. The court accordingly ruled that Sylva was ineligible to contest the governorship election.
To most Bayelsans, Maciver was particularly remembered for his brutality against the people at the height of the militancy that rocked the Niger Delta between 1999 and 2007, after he break jail in Kaduna state and returned to Bayelsa.
To the people of the state, a Sylva / Maciver leadership will simply reenact the sad memory of the brutality that took place while Sylva was governor. It was the period of the notorious Operation Famu Tamgbe, a security outfit set up by the state government to combat insecurity, but ended up terrorizing the people more than the terrorists.
Most disturbing is the rhetoric of Mr. Maciver in the APC campaigns currently going on in the State. Could this be the reason why the national leadership of the party is not participating in the campaign of the party?
Maciver has made it a slogan that they will take government by force in the state which military parlance amounts to a coup. In a recent campaign Twon-Brass Mr. Maciver said “Let’s prepared, on the 11th, if anybody misbehave for Twon-Brass, chase am go enter the sea make him die. Ona dey hear? Chase am make him die. Afterall nobi that person go be the first person to die. So, let’s show them”. Such a man poses a very serious danger to our democracy and should be treated like the fugitive he is.
Very frightening is the debasing of our institutions by some persons we held in high esteem like Major General Barry T. Ndiomu (rtd), the head of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) who hastily wrote a very poorly worded letter to the Secretary to the Federal Government stating that Mr. Maciver was granted amnesty by late President Yar’dua after an initial letter he sent to him that Maciver wasn’t part of the amnesty programme. It is comic for the Nigerian Correctional Centre to write a letter claiming that this unrepentant felon was granted amnesty. Why is Nigeria drifting towards a joke?
A man who should have been declared wanted by the police, arrested and sent back to jail is not even hiding but throwing tantrums and threatening to kill people. Is this the kind of person the Nigerian State and Bayelsa deserves to be rewarded by a political party with such an exalted elective position as d Deputy Governor? Then what message are we sending to our children and the younger generation? That you can commit a crime, go to prison, break jail and be rewarded with an elective position?
For Mr. Sylva to pick him as running mate is a clear case of “show me your associates and I tell you who you are.” In other words, birds of the like feather flock together.
Aside from this, Mr Sylva is constantly and notoriously being accused of the culture of political exclusion. This alienation culture has driven almost all reasonable persons from the APC in Bayelsa State under him.
Therefore, every responsible politician in the APC. That could also the reason why a law-abiding national leadership of the Party is equally reluctant to join his campaign.
The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Senator Heineken Lokpobri has refused to associate with him. So is the former governorship candidate of the party, Mr. David Lyon. Even his former deputy, Chief Werininpre Seibarugu has left the party to return to the PDP.
The jail break case and the breach of the 1999 constitution is certainly another litmus test for the Nigerian Judiciary that has recently been accused of several controversial judgements. The world is also watching.
In the last four years, Bayelsa has made extraordinary political and developmental strides. Economic growth has been steady and the business landscape has been growing. Peace which hitherto eluded the state is manifest to the extent that people can now sleep with their eyes closed.
*Jonathan Orumiebi Andabai wrote from Yenagoa
TIMIPRE SYLVA AND HIS PENCHANT FOR NOTORIETY: LIGHTING IS ABOUT TO STRIKE AGAIN
Crime
Bandits Dump Corpses in Revenge Attack in Tafoki Village, Katsina

Bandits Dump Corpses in Revenge Attack in Tafoki Village, Katsina
By: Zagazola Makama
A group of suspected bandits have launched a brutal revenge attack on Tafoki village in the Fasakari Local Government Area of Katsina State, dumping several corpses at the entrance to the community.
Local sources told Zagazola Makama that the assailants, believed to be mostly in their 20s, arrived in the village on April 9, 2025, and positioned the bodies at the entrance. This attack is reportedly in retaliation for the deaths of three bandits killed by villagers in February 2025, after the criminals attempted to launch an assault on the village.
Among the slain bandits was Goje, a notorious leader who led the failed attack. Sources suggest that the bandits have since been abducting villagers, tying their hands behind their backs, and executing them with gunshots to the head. Afterward, the bandits return the bodies and dispose of them at the village entrance.
As families mourn, they are left to recover the decomposing remains of their loved ones, with some corpses already starting to decompose.
Villagers are left devastated, grappling with the trauma of the violence and the realization that their attempts to defend themselves against the bandits’ previous assault have now turned into deadly retribution.
Bandits Dump Corpses in Revenge Attack in Tafoki Village, Katsina
Crime
Man Dies After Being Beaten by Brother in Zaria City

Man Dies After Being Beaten by Brother in Zaria City
By: Zagazola Makama
A tragic incident in Zaria City has led to the death of 50-year-old Sani Yusuf, who was reportedly beaten into a stupor by his elder brother, Abubakar Aminu, on April 4, 2025.
According to information from a Good Samaritan, Abubakar, aged 53, attacked Sani at their home in Rimintsiwa, Zaria City.
The victim was immediately rushed to ABUTH Shika for medical treatment but unfortunately passed away early on April 10, 2025, at approximately 4:50 a.m. While the victim was under care at the hospital, his condition deteriorated, and he succumbed to the injuries inflicted during the assault.
The family has since buried the deceased according to local customs.
Police authorities are currently searching for the suspect, Abubakar Aminu, who fled the scene following the incident. Efforts to apprehend him are ongoing.
The case has been classified as culpable homicide, and investigations are being pursued to determine the circumstances surrounding the altercation and the suspect’s motives.
Man Dies After Being Beaten by Brother in Zaria City
Crime
Bandits Abduct Three in Gusau Community

Bandits Abduct Three in Gusau Community
By: Zagazola Makama
Suspected armed bandits have abducted three residents of Marere Hausawa, a community on the outskirts of Damba in Gusau Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
Sources informed Zagazola Makama that the incident occurred in the early hours of Thursday at about 2:30 a.m., when the assailants, wielding dangerous weapons, invaded the area and forcefully took the victims to an unknown destination.
Sources within the community confirmed the attack, describing it as sudden and terrifying.
Search efforts are ongoing to rescue the victims by the troops of Operation FANSAN YANMA
Bandits Abduct Three in Gusau Community
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