Nigeria prepares palatial mansion for Taylor's asylum stay

LAGOS, Aug 9 (AFP) - A palatial mansion where embattled Liberian President Charles Taylor is expected to reside when he takes up asylum in Nigeria is being spruced up ahead of the former warlord's arrival, witnesses said Saturday.

A top official of Cross River State state government, Dominic Kibzu, confirmed to AFP Friday that a "nice" place was being prepared for Taylor in the southeastern city of Calabar, the state capital.

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The building, named Patrick Archibong Lodge, is located on a hilltop in the serene and upmarket government area of Calabar and is a two-storey architectural gem, overlooking the parliament and headquarters of the eastern naval command.

Archibong, whom the building is named after, was a former military governor of the state.

Security has been beefed up around the mansion as stern-looking armed policemen keep watch over the building and its surroundings, the witnesses said.

Roofing sheets, window louvres and furniture are being replaced and the mansion is gradually being given a new coat of paint, they added.

The Vanguard newspaper Saturday adorned its front page with a colour photograph of the plush dwelling.

Taylor has promised to step down on Monday and head for Nigeria as part of a fragile west African-led peace effort aimed at ending almost five years of fighting.

Nigeria has offered asylum to Taylor, who has been indicted by the international court in Sierra Leone for war crimes committed in that country's civil war.

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