FG Ejects Gusau, Awolowo from Aso Rock

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=132441

FG Ejects Gusau, Awolowo from Aso Rock

•Three ambassadors also affected
From Juliana Taiwo in Abuja, 01.07.2009

Former National Security Adviser, Alhaji Moha-mmed Aliyu Gusau, Transport Secretary in the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Mr. Segun Awolowo, and a former Nigeria’s Ambassador to Morocco, M. Abdul-Wahab, have been ejected from their houses within the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
Also ejected is a serving Under-Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Eineje Onobu, and former Ambassador Nkem Nwadibia Anyanwu.
Special Assistant to former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Domestic Affairs, Mr. Andy Uba, whose house is also located in the villa, was said to have vacated the place on his own after receiving the quit notice last year.
Some family members of the evictees seen guarding their loads after the ejection told journalists who visited the scene that they had been given quit notice since October 2008 but did not pack out as the money they paid for the houses had not been refunded.
Ambassador Abdul-Wahab told journalists that the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) Task Force stormed his house late Monday evening while the wedding Fatia of his daughter was going on to eject him but he pleaded with them to hold on until after the end of the wedding.
He said the men started throwing out his personal belongings while they were taking pictures with his guests outside.
According to him, he had paid for the house which was allocated to him by the former FCT administration.
He stated that the notice given to them had implied that the houses were too close to the Presidential Villa.
Meanwhile, a senior aide to the FCT Minister, Senator Adamu Aliero, told newsmen that those affected by the revocation order by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua were refunded their money.
The minister’s aide noted that while some came forward to pick up their cheques, some stayed away until their cheques lapsed.
He also revealed that the FCT administration had also directed the Aso Savings and Loans Limited, FCT mortgage bank, to stop further deductions in respect of the affected houses.
“These people have been offered their cheques since last year but they refused to pick them up. And again, not all of them who claimed to have paid have done so. FCDA has done all within its power to ensure that those that paid part payment for the houses get their refund but they have refused to pick them up,” the aide said.