EXCLUSIVE: How former Gov. Sylva allegedly raised money for bankrolling coup

Newly obtained troves of investigation records have thrown light on how Timipre Sylva, a former governor of the oil-rich Bayelsa State, sourced the money he allegedly threw at last year’s failed coup against President Bola Tinubu and his administration.

These findings came from reviewing the confidential files, containing over 7,400 pages, that investigators brought together for the prosecution of suspected conspirators who allegedly played various roles in the failed coup.

Many of these suspects are now facing charges at either the General Court Martial or the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The documents this newspaper reviewed include suspects’ extrajudicial statements, bank records, printouts of prime suspects’ secret text messages, the suspected coup leader’s hidden notes, and investigative reports.

A report from the files, which focused on Mr Sylva’s financial contributions to the coup, framed him as a “high net worth individual.”

It described how Mr Sylva, who served as the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources during former President Muhammadu Buhari’s immediate past administration, worked with associates to pool over N5 billion allegedly stashed in a dedicated account for executing the alleged plot.

Before the plot hit the rocks last September, Mr Sylva, who allegedly demanded not to be associated with the plot, had instructed the transfer of N785 million for the execution.

He allegedly funnelled his contributions through the accounts of a company, Purple Waves Limited, an Abuja-based company involved in real estate, land transactions and construction.

The company, which served as an intermediary entity adopted for the sponsorship of the plot, allegedly transferred Mr Sylva’s donations to a bureau de change (BDC) operator, the investigative report examined by PREMIUM TIMES said.

Then, on the instruction of the suspected coup leader, Mohammed Ma’aji, a 50-year-old Army colonel from Niger State, the BDC operator disbursed the proceeds to beneficiaries assigned various roles in the plot.

The coup broke down with the arrest of Mr Ma’aji on 29 September 2025. In October, investigators said they found billions of naira remaining in the bank accounts used to fund the coup planning activities.

But the question remains: where did the money funding the Purple Waves’ accounts that allegedly financed the coup activities come from?

What is the relationship between the company and Mr Sylva?

Investigators believe the funds came from two principal sources.

Part of the money, the report said, came from what appeared to be the proceeds of a contract awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The other stream of funds allegedly came from loans granted to Purple Waves by SunTrust Bank Limited and a third party.

These funds allegedly landed in Purple Waves Limited’s accounts.

How it started

Investigators portrayed Purple Waves Limited as critical to the plot.

Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) records obtained during investigations showed that the firm was incorporated on 3 March 2009.

They listed the company’s directors as Inowei Ingoikputu and Abang Ogar, both of whom are believed to be Mr Sylva’s associates.

The investigative report further stated that some properties presented as collateral for a loan the company obtained from SunTrust Bank last year belonged to either Mr Sylva or an unnamed associate.

The firm came into the coup picture in July 2025, after Mr Sylva’s initial hesitation about the coup gave way, turning around to promise the suspected coup leader, Mr Ma’aji, a financial support for “the movement”.

So, on 23 July 2025, Mr Sylva allegedly asked Mr Ingoikputu and Mr Ogar to open a SunTrust Bank account 0026004238 in the name of their firm, Purple Waves. He asked for the account to be opened “to facilitate receipt and payment of funds required to executé the planned coup,” investigators said.

Acting on Mr Sylva’s request, the board of Purple Waves passed a resolution designating Mr Ingoikputu, Issac Ekpoki and John Ifeanyi Ebokpo as the signatories to the SunTrust Bank account.

The inflow from NDDC

The largest single contribution to Purple Waves Limited’s account amounted to N5.8 billion. The source was the NDDC, according to the investigative report reviewed.

The report said the NDDC paid the money to Purple Wave for executing “an alleged contract” of Niger Delta Emergency Coastal Protection — Phase 1, a land reclamation and shoreline protection project.

The report provided little detail about this contract or the payment.

It did not indicate when the money was paid to Purple Waves’ account.

It did not discuss when the contract was awarded, the total value of the contract or who the particular contractor was.

Also, the report did not disclose the contract’s execution status or whether the N5.8 billion represented the entire contract value or just a fraction of it.

There is also no information in the report indicating if NDDC was contacted over the payment or the contract.

The report instead said that inquiries so far “revealed that the opening of Purple Waves’ SunTrust Bank account number 0026004238 and the transfer of N5,816,336,659.83 to the account for the execution of the PLANNED COUP was orchestrated and spearheaded by the prime suspects, in this case, Timipre Sylva and Alhassan Ma’aji Mohammed.”

It reiterated that investigations into Mr Sylva’s financial contributions to the alleged coup continued.

Loan and contract-related funding sources

Purple Waves Limited also allegedly took a loan of N2.9 billion from SunTrust Bank in September 2025, funds which investigators said were partly used to finance coup activities.

September 2025, when the loan proceeds were credited into Purple Waves’ bank account, became a turning point for the alleged plot, which Mr Ma’aji said during interrogations he first envisioned in 2023 but could not advance due to lack of funds.

According to investigators, the N2.9 billion loan proceeds hit the newly opened account of Purple Waves on 17 September 2025.

The money was traced back to the company’s Advanced Payment Guarantee (APG) account number 0026004245, which was also domiciled in SunTrust Bank.

This suggests that the payment could be contract-related funding, because a bank usually issues an APG account as guarantee to refund an advance fund paid by a client to a contractor if the contractor defaults.

Other funding of the Purple Waves account appeared similar.

On the same 17 September 2025, N1.2 billion was credited into Purple Waves Limited account number 0026004238 as loan facility availed to it by SunTrust Bank.

This loan was allegedly cash-backed by 50 per cent of the APG proceeds credited into the company’s current account.

On 18 September 2025, additional funds of N1.07 billion was credited into Purple Waves Limited current account by Yobygo Nigeria Ltd.

The report said further investigation revealed that Yobygo Nigeria Ltd (a third-party company) “was used to facilitate the disbursement of additional funds on behalf of Purple Waves Ltd.”

It said three properties were allegedly pledged as collateral for the loan facility of N2.4 billion obtained from SunTrust Bank in favour of Purple Waves.

Extract from the valuation reports, reviewed by investigators, revealed that the properties are:

• House 8A, Thaba Tseka Street, Wuse 2, Abuja,
• House 8B, Thaba Tseka Street, Wuse 2, Abuja, and
• Plot 4577, Cadastral Zone A09, Guzape District, Abuja.

The properties, according to the report, had a total market value of N10.9 billion and a forced sales value of N7.7 billion at the time.

“It is most likely that these properties are linked to Chief Timipre Sylva or his associate,” the report said.

In May, the Federal High Court in Abuja, ordered an interim forfeiture of nine properties linked to Mr Sylva. One of them appeared to be on the same street as two of the three properties allegedly pledged as collateral for the N2.4 billion loan.

The forfeited property in question was listed as Plot 1181, Thaba Tseka Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja, while the two loan collaterals were said to be at House 8A and House 8B, Thaba Tseka Street, Wuse 2, Abuja.

‘The coup disbursement from N5.12 billion account balance’

Investigators tracked specific transactions exceeding N8.2 billion in the Purple Waves accounts, in addition to several foreign exchange cash transactions conducted through some BDC operators.

They said the N8.2 billion entered the accounts either as loans or “alleged contract proceeds obtained from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and SunTrust Bank.”

In part, they said, the funds were meant for coordinating and executing “the planned coup project with Chief Timipre Sylva and Mohammed Ma’aji at the centre of this effort.”

They said specifically that Purple Waves received instruction from Mr Sylva to begin funds disbursement for the alleged coup from N5.2 billion stashed in the company’s account.

“Armed with an account balance of N5,175,928, 329.92 [N5.2 billion], the management of Purple Waves Ltd, upon the directive of Chief Timipre Sylva, commenced disbursement of the funds to executive the planned coup project…,” the investigative report read.

Following Mr Sylva’s instruction, the report said, the management of Purple Waves Limited transferred N785 million on different dates from its account number 0026004238 domiciled in SunTrust Bank Limited to Mr Ma’aji through BDC entities owned by one Sani Abdullahi.

‘Legitimate funds used to sponsor illegitimate activities’

To legitimise Purple Waves’ fund transfers to the BDC operator’s accounts, investigators said, Mr Sylva and his associates “submitted several invoices using the BDC operator’s company names (Express Link, ASA Multipurpose Concept and LUJI Trade & Investment Ltd) to SunTrust Limited to support an alleged award of sub-contract jobs” purportedly arising from the main NDDC contract.

Documents presented to the bank allegedly portrayed the transfers to the BDC accounts as payments for equipment operators’ wages, fuel and spare parts for marine plant, site grading and levelling, final surface clearing, dredger rental, and so on.

“Meanwhile, the BDC operator has denied knowledge of the invoices presented by the SunTrust bank,” the report said. “SunTrust Bank’s Relationship Manager/Account Officer claimed never to have met any of the Purple Waves Limited account signatories, yet a total of N2,400,000,000.00 [N2.4 billion] was disbursed to the company by the bank.”

Taking a broad view of the whole transactions, investigators summarised them as a case “where legitimate funds were used to sponsor illegitimate activities.”

What happened to undisbursed funds?

Going by investigators’ review of the entire case, Mr Sylva’s alleged buy-in in 2025 was a turning point for the coup plot, which had practically remained in the conception stage for about two years.

By September 2025, when funds traced to Purple Waves started streaming into the bank accounts of beneficiaries linked to the plot, insiders began to talk of an execution date for the alleged coup.

Three dates were suggested in their deliberations, according to the written statements of some of the military officers suspected of being part of the conspiracy.

The suggested dates were 27 September, 1 October (the Independence Day), and 4 October. But none of the dates was picked before the plan fell apart.

The plot unravelled when Army authorities lured Mr Ma’aji into an arrest trap on 29 September 2025.

In the weeks that followed, investigators arrested and interrogated many serving and retired military officers, a police officer, Islamic clerics and others believed to be part of the conspiracy or who knew about it but refused to report it. Many of them are now facing trials.

Investigators found various amounts of money still in accounts linked to the alleged coup plot.

As of 20 October 2025, Purple Waves’ current account domiciled in SunTrust Bank had a balance of N4.3 billion.

Also Purple Waves Limited APG account had a balance of N2.9 billion, which investigations said they “strongly believed” was meant for “the actualisation of the planned coup.”

What happened to these funds?

The report said SunTrust Bank was “directed to immediately place unconditional restriction or a Post-No-Debit (PND) order” on the Purple Waves’ current account with the N4.3 billion balance, “considering the planned utilisation of this fund.”

It did not state the action taken on the account with N2.9 billion balance.

Also, the report said BDC operator, Abdullahi Mohammed, was directed to transfer an undisbursed amount of N306,625,000.00 (N306.6 million) to the account of the Army Corps Military Police at the Nigerian Army Headquarters.

Last October, Mr Sylva, who is believed to be abroad and out of reach of the Nigerian authorities, vehemently denied involvement in the alleged coup. He described the alleged plot as a rumour.

Meanwhile five associates are facing charges in Abuja for concealing his whereabouts.

Read the teaser story for the PREMIUM TIMES series of exclusive reports on the failed coup plot here, and subsequent exposés here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.