SAN FRANCISCO, December 18, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government has accused a former Senate President, David Mark, of illegally acquiring his then official residence as his private property.
The government had in September, through the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property, issued Mark a 21-day notice to quit the mansion asking him to show cause why the Federal Government should not enforce the recovery of the property for public good.
The Senate President’s official residence is sited on 1.6 hectares of land at 1 Musa Usman Street, (also known as No. 1 Chuba Okadigbo Street), Apo Legislative Quarters, Gudu, Abuja.
However, the former Senate President, quickly filed a suit before the Federal High Court in Abuja to quash all steps taken by the panel to evict him and recover the house from him.
According to copies of documents, including exhibits, filed by the former Senate President in his suit challenging the recovery process obtained from court sources by The Punch, the property comprises eight structures, made up of the main house, ADC/chief security detail’s house, guest chalet, security/generator house, boys quarters, security post, driver/servants’ quarters and chapel.
The eight structures are said to be properly spaced and linked with well-paved drive and walkways and further done with lawns.
Mark, the Senator, currently representing Benue South in the National Assembly, was accused of illegally acquiring the property with the approval of former President Goodluck Jonathan despite that such property was excluded from the monetisation policy of the Federal Government.
Copies of correspondences and other documents, leading to the purchase and eventual handover of the property to Mark in April, 2011, showed that the serving senator purchased the property at a “reserved price” of N673,200,000.
Meanwhile, in his letter, dated October 28, 2010, seeking the then President Jonathan’s approval for the sale of the property, the then Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Bala Mohammed, had indicated that the open market value of the property was N748,000,000.
In addition, the then Minister specifically stated that the Federal Executive Council had, in 2004, mandated the Federal Capital Territory Administration to sell all Federal Government’s “non-essential housing units in Abuja under specific rules and guidelines.”
Exempted from this arrangement are the official residences of the Senate President, the Deputy Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Deputy Speaker.
He stated that the exemption was “expressly contained in the Federal Government of Nigeria’s Official Gazette No. 82, Vol. 92 of August 15, 2005.”
