The Ogun State Government has confirmed that three presidential aircraft operated by the Nigerian government were recently seized by a French court.
A contract disagreement between the Ogun State administration and Zhongshan, a Chinese business that had an agreement with the state government, caused the French court to ground the jets.
However, the two parties’ contract came to an impasse and was terminated by the state in 2016.
The French court confiscated the three presidential aircraft that were under its authority after the Chinese company sued the Federal Government as well as the State Government.
Previously, Zhongshan had received a settlement of about $74.5 million from an impartial arbitral tribunal.
But this accolade has not yet been honoured by the Ogun State administration, which contests it.
The state government swiftly responded, calling the judicial action unjust and threatening to overturn the ruling.
The state administration denounced the development as a new technique by the Chinese corporation to seize Nigerian assets in foreign jurisdictions in a statement released on Thursday.
It was signed by Kayode Akinmade, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Strategy, and it noted that previous attempts had consistently failed.
The statement reads in part, “Each of the three aircraft is used solely for sovereign purposes and, as such, is immune from attachment under international and French law. In securing the provisional attachments, Zhongshan deliberately withheld information from the Federal Government of Nigeria, Ogun State, and their legal counsel.”
Akinmade additionally claimed that Zhongshan had misrepresented the nature and intended use of the confiscated assets to the Paris court.
“Shockingly, it also appears to have misled the Judicial Court of Paris about the use and nature of the assets it seeks to attach and failed to make full disclosure to the court as required by law.
“Ogun State, in conjunction with the Federal Government of Nigeria, has taken swift action to ensure that these provisional attachments are lifted without delay.
“The government likened the situation to the P&ID case, insisting that “this is another unfortunate instance of unscrupulous individuals posing as foreign investors with the sole aim of defrauding Ogun State and Nigeria.
Akinmade stated that the 2007 deal for the management of a free-trade zone between the state and Zhongshan was signed, 12 years before the administration led by Dapo Abiodun. In 2015, the parties started a dispute, and arbitration started in 2016.
“By 2019, when the current State Administration took office, the arbitration hearing had been nearly concluded. The Arbitral Panel awarded over $60 million against the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), which was a co-defendant, despite Zhongshan merely constructing a perimeter fence around the free-trade zone. Needless to say, this was a flawed and unfair decision.”
