Hoodlums burgle Sylva’s house in Bayelsa

The house of the former Governor of Bayelsa State, Timpre Sylva, has been burgled by unknown persons.

Our correspondent gathered that suspected thieves stormed the mansion, which is adjacent to Okpoama Beach in Brass Local Government Area of the state, on Monday night.

They were said to have broken into the house through the security post.

Though no money was said to have been stolen, security sources told our correspondent that only the Close Circuit Television was dismantled at the guardroom.

“We don’t know why the burglars were only interested in the CCTV. They removed the monitor and the TV”, one of the security sources who pleaded anonymity said.

Sylva, who was ousted as governor via a Supreme Court judgment, has been facing a N26bn charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The former governor, who had a long failed battle with the Peoples Democratic Party and President Goodluck Jonathan to secure a second term in office, has not been sighted in the state since he was removed from office last January.

His former Chief of Staff, Mr. Sam Ogbuku, was on Monday arrested by EFCC at his Lagos residence in connection with the N2bn suit.

Our correspondent gathered that the police arrested three guards in the house for the burglary.

The guards our correspondent, however, gathered, claimed they were not on duty when the incident happened.


The guards said they stayed away from work to protest against the non-payment of their October salaries.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Fidelis Odunna, who confirmed the incident, described it as one of the isolated cases of burglary in the state.

He added that it was only the boys’ quarters in the building that was attacked by the hoodlums.

He said, “The police are taken records of what was stolen by the robbers. One of the security guards who came to work in the morning discovered it and alerted the police. We are carrying out investigations to know what happened.”