Coup: Defence HQ, Army mum on alleged raid at Timipre Sylva’s residence
By Kingsley Omonobi
Following social media reports on Tuesday alleging that armed personnel of the Nigerian Army stormed the Abuja residence of former Bayelsa State Governor and ex-Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, over an alleged link to a coup plot currently under investigation by the authorities, the Defence headquarters, as well as the Army headquarters, have kept silent.
Several efforts by Vanguard to reach out to the Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Tukur Gusau and the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Lt. Col Appolonia Anele, for their responses, proved abortive.
Reports had emerged, not from Vanguard, indicating that the operation at the former governor’s house in Maitama, Abuja, was carried out by a special military team in the early hours of Tuesday.
The reports alleged that the raid followed intelligence reports linking the former governor to a series of secret meetings allegedly held with some of the detained military officers accused of plotting to overthrow the government.
Quoting unnamed sources, the reports said, “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,” the source revealed.
According to the report, “Another security insider confirmed that while no official statement had been issued by the military, the raid was not random but followed what was described as ‘credible intelligence linking certain political figures to the alleged plotters.”
The officers have reportedly been held incommunicado for over three weeks in an undisclosed facility in Abuja. Families of the detained officers initially feared their relatives had been kidnapped due to the absence of official communication from the military.
“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,” the report said.
“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?” a retired senior officer questioned. “This smells of politics. There’s clearly more going on behind the scenes,” it added.
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