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el-Rufai buys Atiku’s guest house

Saturday, 02 June 2007

Source: BusinessDay, Nigeria

Former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Nasir el-Rufai has moved into one of the ex-vice president Atiku Abubakar’s official guest houses that he bought during the sale of Federal Government’s non-essential houses. The sale was conducted in the twilight of the last administration.

The guest house is located on 12, Mambilla Street, off Aso Drive in the high brow Asokoro district, a shouting distance from Aso Rock villa.

A statement last thursday from the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation in Abuja said that the former minister moved his family into the house after personally delivering a two-day eviction notice to the care-taker four days to handover date.

He was quoted as having told the care-taker that "this is going to be my personal house".

According to the organisation, Atiku had showed interest in purchasing the said house under the policy of selling off non-essential Federal Government houses.

While the former vice president had earlier turned down an offer to purchase his official residence in Lagos, "he accordingly applied for it (the guest house), like any other Nigerian, as laid down by the Ad-hoc Committee on the Sale of Non-Essential Houses. The FCT minister however delayed any decision on the application long after all other applicants had paid for and had taken possession of their Certificates of Occupancy. It was only last week that the decision to reject the application was communicated to representatives of Atiku Abubakar," the statement said.

Atiku’s organisation further said that the former minister might have "settled for the Guest house after the then President-elect Umar Yar’Adua did not show enthusiasm about the planned sale of the official quarters of the chairman of the FCDA".

Contacted, el-Rufai confirmed buying the house but with the approval of former president Olusegun Obasanjo.

He said: "It’s not his (Atiku) house. It’s government’s house and his girlfriend was staying there. President Obasajo authorised that the house be sold about three weeks ago and he said that any minister can apply for it at open market rate. I applied and my application was approved and so the purchase was approved and the former president knows that I paid for it at open marker rate".

Nasir el-Rufai, however, told Business Day that he could not remember the name of the alleged girlfriend of the former vice president.

It would be recalled that el- Rufai supervised the demolition of several houses on the ground that the houses were built in places designated for other projects.

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