Following a ruling in favor of Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited by a French court allowing the corporation to seize presidential jets owned by the Nigerian government, the Federal Government of Nigeria has accused the Chinese company of engaging in deception.
In a statement on Thursday, presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga alleged that the Chinese firm is trying “to take over offshore assets of the Federal Government of Nigeria through subterfuge”.
As “security” for claims in a protracted legal fight between the foreign corporation and the Ogun State government, the Chinese firm was granted permission to take three presidential airplanes that were undergoing routine maintenance in France by the Paris court, which ruled in favor of the Chinese firm in the arbitration award case.
The Ogun State government and the foreign company signed a deal in 2007 for the management of a free-trade zone; however, the state administration revoked the agreement in 2015.
Outraged, Zhongshan filed a complaint with the China-Nigeria BIT, a bilateral investment treaty between the People’s Republic of China and Nigeria, alleging investment treaty arbitrability against Nigeria.
The arbitrators ruled that Nigeria was in breach of its obligations under the China-Nigeria BIT and awarded Zhongshan compensation amounting to millions of dollars.
The Nigerian government and the subnational appealed the matter in “eight” jurisdictions including the United Kingdom and the United States.
Three presidential jets of Nigeria are currently undergoing routine maintenance in France, which is the most recent jurisdiction.
The aircraft was seized in order to “preserve the claim arising from the arbitration award dated 26 March 2021, made by an ad hoc arbitral tribunal,” the Paris court reportedly ruled.
But the Nigerian government said it is “not under any contractual obligation with the company”.
“The case in which Zhongshan is trying to use every unorthodox means to strip our offshore assets is between the company and the Ogun State Government,” Onanuga said, flaying Zhongshan which he said “has no solid ground to demand restitution from the Ogun State Government based on the facts regarding the 2007 contract between the company and the State Government to manage a free-trade zone”.
“When the contract with Ogun State was revoked in 2015, the company had only erected a perimeter fence on the land earmarked for a free trade zone,” he said.
Onanuga said despite that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, has been working with the Ogun State Government on an amicable resolution, “Zhongshan obtained two orders from the Judicial Court of Paris dated March 7, 2024, and August 12, 2024, without any notice being duly served on the Federal Government of Nigeria and Ogun State Government”.
The court order came amid a controversy surrounding the planned purchase of a new presidential jet for President Bola Tinubu who has had to use hired jets for official trips in recent times due to faulty presidential jets.
