Confirmation has been made by the Ogun State Government regarding the recent seizure of three Nigerian government presidential aircraft by a French court.
Due to a contract dispute between the Ogun State government and Zhongshan, a Chinese company, the French court grounded the jets.
The agreement between the two parties reached a standstill and was terminated by the state government back in 2016.
This disagreement led to the Chinese firm taking legal action against both the state government and the Federal Government, resulting in the French court seizing the three presidential aircraft within its jurisdiction.
An independent arbitral tribunal had previously granted Zhongshan about $74.5 million in compensation. However, the Ogun State government, which contests this award, has yet to comply with it.
The state government swiftly criticized the judicial action as unfair and issued a threat to challenge the order.
In a statement released on Thursday and signed by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Strategy, Kayode Akinmade, the state government denounced the incident as a new tactic by the Chinese company to take hold of Nigerian assets in foreign territories, mentioning past unsuccessful attempts.
Part of the statement reads, “Each of the three aircraft is utilized exclusively for sovereign purposes and, therefore, is protected from seizure under international and French legislation. Zhongshan intentionally omitted information from the Federal Government of Nigeria, Ogun State, and their legal advisors to obtain the provisional attachments.”
Akinmade also alleged that Zhongshan deceived the Paris court regarding the seized assets’ nature and utility.
“Notably, it seems that it also provided misleading information to the Judicial Court of Paris about the assets it aims to seize and failed to disclose necessary details to the court as mandated by law.
“Ogun State, alongside the Federal Government of Nigeria, has taken immediate steps to ensure the prompt lifting of these provisional attachments.”
The government equated the situation to the P&ID case, asserting that “this is another regrettable scenario where unethical individuals pretend to be foreign investors with the singular intent of defrauding Ogun State and Nigeria.”
Akinmade recalled the 2007 contract between the state and Zhongshan for managing a free-trade zone, which was a dozen years prior to the current Dapo Abiodun-led government. An arbitration process began in 2016 following a dispute in 2015.
“When the present State Administration assumed office in 2019, the arbitration proceedings were nearly finalized. The Arbitral Panel ruled against the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), a co-defendant, awarding over $60 million, despite Zhongshan’s limited role of constructing a perimeter fence around the free-trade zone. Undoubtedly, this was an unjust and biased decision.”
Efforts by the PUNCH to acquire an authenticated copy of the judgment to gain further insights into the matter are ongoing.