(Adds further details, context)
By Felix Onuah
ABUJA, March 30 (Reuters) - Nigeria's Timipre Sylva has
resigned as the country's minister of state for petroleum to
seek a new term as governor of oil-producing Bayelsa State in
the southern Niger Delta, ministry and presidency sources told
Reuters on Thursday.
Sylva's resignation comes at a time of political transition
in Nigeria, with President Muhammadu Buhari serving his final
weeks in office before giving way to President-elect Bola Tinubu
on May 29.
Sylva handed his resignation letter last week to Buhari, who
doubles as petroleum minister, and stopped coming to the office,
said two sources who did not want to be identified.
They said he would be seeking the ruling All Progressives
Congress ticket to run for Bayelsa governor in party primaries
scheduled to take place on April 14.
Sylva could not be reached for comment and the petroleum
ministry declined to comment.
Sylva served as governor of Bayelsa for one full term
between 2008 and 2012. At the time, he was a member of the
People's Democratic Party, which was then in power at the
federal level but is now in opposition.
Appointed junior oil minister in August 2019, Sylva oversaw
major reforms in the oil sector, including the passing of
legislation that overhauled the sector's fiscal regime in a bid
to spur investment.
During his time as minister, Nigeria's oil output fell to
its lowest in decades due to crude theft and pipeline vandalism.
Angola overtook Nigeria as Africa's biggest oil producer and
exporter for a few months last year.
(Additional reporting by Camillus Eboh; Writing by Chijioke
Ohuocha; Editing by Estelle Shirbon and Alex Richardson)
Reuters Messaging: chijioke.ohuocha.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))
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