Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, has withdrawn his bid to contest for president under the All Progressives Congress (APC).

This was disclosed in a report by the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday evening.

An official at the ministry who chose to remain anonymous, told DailyPost that Sylva withdrew from the race to support President Muhammadu Buhari in his quest to achieve a robust oil sector.

“He believes that concentrating on his work will attract more investments for the oil and gas sector.

“He has consulted, and he believes that the challenges at the ministry and oil and gas sector are enough issues for him to begin to deal with now than going to pursue presidential ambition at the expense of the nation.

“The oil and gas sector is the mainstay of the economy, and it is not like any other ministry someone can just come in and take over.

“It requires some measures of time for the person to understand what is happening in the system,” the official was quoted to have said.

Thelagostimes had earlier reported that President Buhari ordered all Ministers aspiring to be President in 2023 to resign immediately.