A new probe report has indicted a former governor of Bayelsa State and ex-Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, for helping to raise billions of naira for the failed 2025 plan to overthrow President Bola Tinubu.
Premium Times reports the claims are contained in more than 7,400 pages of investigation documents assembled for the prosecution of military officers and civilians accused of participating in the alleged coup.
Among the documents analyzed are bank statements, statements of suspects, private messages, investigative reports and notes purportedly written by the suspected mastermind of the plot, Col. Mohammed Ma’aji.
Sylva has not been convicted of any of the allegations made against him in court. The former minister had earlier denied any involvement, saying reports linking him to the plot were baseless.
Sylva and his cohorts were suspected to have pooled over ₦5bn in an account to sponsor the planned overthrow of the government, the report of the investigation said.
The report alleged that Sylva had approved the transfer of ₦785m for the execution of the plot, while trying to distance himself from public association with it.
The money was allegedly sent through Purple Waves Limited, an Abuja-based company engaged in construction, real estate and land transactions.
It was reported that the company had transferred the money to Bureau de Change operators, who then gave the cash to persons assigned roles in the alleged conspiracy on the instructions of Ma’aji.
The plot reportedly collapsed after the arrest of Ma’aji on September 29, 2025.
The report quoted records from the Corporate Affairs Commission which showed that Purple Waves Limited was incorporated on March 3rd, 2009.
According to investigators, Sylva’s associates were named as directors Inowei Ingoikputu and Abang Ogar.
Some of the Abuja properties used as collateral for loans secured by the company belonged to Sylva or people close to him, the report said.
“On July 23, 2025, Sylva requested the company’s directors to open a SunTrust Bank account for the receipt and disbursement of funds relating to the proposed coup,” the report said.
The company later appointed Ingoikputu, Isaac Ekpoki and John Ifeanyi Ebokpo as signatories to the account.
The investigators identified the single largest inflow as the purported payment of ₦5.8bn by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDC) to Purple Waves for a coastal protection project.
It was called the Niger Delta Emergency Coastal Protection, Phase One project and it involved land reclamation and shoreline protection.
However the report did not mention when the contract was awarded, the total value, the degree of execution or if the payment was the full contract sum.
It also did not say whether the NDDC had been contacted for confirmation of payment or status of the project.
However, the investigators alleged that Sylva and Ma’aji conspired to open the account and moved the sum of ₦5.816bn into the account for the execution of the alleged coup.
The report further alleged that Purple Waves got loans of about ₦2.9bn from SunTrust Bank in September, 2025.
The investigators said the money was deposited into the company’s account on September 17, the money was used in part to fund activities related to the alleged plot.
It was gathered that another loan of ₦1.2bn was also credited to the same account on the same day. Yobygo Nigeria Limited also transferred another ₦1.07bn on September 18.
The report claimed that Purple Waves used Yobygo to facilitate additional funding on its behalf.
Three properties in Abuja, with an aggregate market value of ₦10.9bn, were allegedly used as collateral for a ₦2.4bn loan.
They were identified as Houses 8A and 8B on Thaba Tseka Street, Wuse 2 and Plot 4577 in Guzape District.
Investigators said the properties are “most likely” linked to Sylva or an associate.
The investigators said they traced transactions running into over ₦8.2bn through the Purple Waves accounts, excluding foreign exchange transactions with Bureau de Change operators.
According to them, the money was paid into the accounts as loans or payments related to the NDDC project.
The report said that at the time its management is said to have started to release money on the directives of Sylva, Purple Waves had a balance of about N5.18bn.
Ma’aji was alleged to have been moved ₦785m in total on different occasions through firms linked to a BDC operator, Sani Abdullahi.
The BDC firms identified were Express Link, ASA Multipurpose Concept and Luji Trade and Investment Limited.
Investigators have claimed that SunTrust Bank was presented with invoices indicating that the transfers were for fuel, equipment operators, marine spare parts, rental of dredgers and site-clearing work linked to the NDDC project.
But the BDC operator denied knowing about the invoices.
The report also alleged that a SunTrust Bank relationship manager said he had never met the signatories to the Purple Waves account despite the bank disbursing ₦2.4bn to the company.
Investigators described the transactions as a case of “legitimate funds used to sponsor illegitimate activities.”
The report cited various dates for the alleged coup including September 27, October 1 and October 4, 2025.
No end date was said to have been fixed before Ma’aji’s arrest.
Investigators later arrested military officers, a police officer, clerics and civilians suspected of being involved in the plot or of failing to report it.
As of 20 October 2025, the Purple Waves current account had a balance of ₦4.3bn while another account linked to an advance payment guarantee had a balance of ₦2.9bn.
The report said SunTrust Bank was directed to place the account with ₦4.3bn on a Post-No-Debit restriction.
It did not state what was done with the account with a balance of ₦2.9bn.
The operator of the BDC was also allegedly asked to remit ₦306.6m which was unspent into the account of the Nigerian Army Corps of Military Police.
Sylva, whom investigators believe is outside Nigeria, denied involvement in the alleged coup when the claims first surfaced in October 2025.
He dismissed the allegations as rumours and denied claims that he had financed any attempt to overthrow the government.
Meanwhile in Abuja, five of his aides are said to be facing charges for hiding information about his whereabouts.
