- Timipre Sylva
Timipre Sylva is a People's Democratic Party politician who is the Governor of
Bayelsa State in southernNigeria .Sylva was born in
Rivers State , of which Bayelsa State was split off from in 1996, and was educated there and inLagos , the former capital of Nigeria. He was a member of theRivers State House of Assembly in the 1990s.cite news |first= Timipre|last= Sylva|title= Bayelsa: I'll Treat Sycophants As My Greatest Enemies|url= http://www.zibb.com/article/594060/Bayelsa+Ill+Treat+Sycophants+As+My+Greatest+Enemies+By+Timipre+Sylva|work=Nigerian Vanguard |publisher=PR Newswire |date=2007-03-17 |accessdate=2007-06-09 ]Sylva won the gubernatorial election and succeeded
Goodluck Jonathan onMay 29 ,2007 , who went on to the position of Vice President.cite news |title= Sylva Laments Poor Industrial Condition Of Bayelsa |url= http://www.nigerdeltastandard.com/states/bayelsa.htm|work= Niger Delta Standard|accessdate=2007-06-09 ] 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 theAction Congress , legally challenged his victory. Although the Bayelsa State Election Petitions Tribunal upheld Sylva's election, Amgbare took the matter to the Appeal Court inPort Harcourt , which overturned the Tribunal's decision and nullified Sylva's election onApril 15 2008 . The Appeal Court's five justices were unanimous in their decision and ordered that SpeakerWerinipre Seibarugo be sworn in to replace Sylva as acting Governor, with a new election to be held within three months. [ [http://en.afrik.com/article13222.html "Nigerian gorvenor loses his job by court order"] , Panapress (afrik.com), April 16, 2008.]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. [Mahmoud Muhammad, [http://allafrica.com/stories/200805261333.html "PDP Sweeps Sokoto, Bayelsa Again"] , "Leadership" (allAfrica.com), May 26, 2008.] He was sworn in again onMay 27 , saying on this occasion that he would form a broadly inclusive unity government. [Segun James, [http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=112644 "Sylva Takes Oath of Office, Embraces Unity Govt"] , "This Day", May 28, 2008.]References
External links
* [http://www.sylva4bygov.org/ 2008 campaign website]
* [http://www.timisylva2007.org/ 2007 campaign website]
*cite news |first= Samuel|last= Oyadongha|title= Bayelsa govt tasks Nigerians on solution to N-Delta crisis|url= http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/niger_delta/nd531052007.html|work= Nigerian Vanguard|publisher=Vanguard Media Limited |date=2007-05-31 |accessdate=2007-06-09
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