The Nigerian Presidency has finally responded to the news about the seizure of three Nigerian Presidential jets by a French court.
The court has ordered the seizure of the aircraft due to a failed agreement between the Ogun State government and a Chinese company.
The aircraft seized include a Dassault Falcon 7X, a Boeing 737-7N6/BBJ, and an Airbus A330-243. These aircraft are currently located at Paris-Le Bourget and Basel-Mulhouse airports.
Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited, a Chinese company that had its export processing zone management contract revoked by the Ogun State government in 2016, has taken legal action in this matter.
The Presidency has issued a statement via the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga, accusing the company of providing false information to the court.
Onanuga also mentioned that the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice is collaborating with the Ogun State government to dismiss the case.
“The Presidency is aware of the various failed attempts by a Chinese company, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited, to take over offshore assets of the Federal Government of Nigeria through subterfuge.
“The federal government 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.
“The federal government is fully aware of efforts being made by the Ogun State government to reach an amicable resolution on the matter.
“It must be said without any equivocation that Zhongshan 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“When the contract with Ogun State was revoked in 2015, the company had only erected a perimeter fence on the land earmarked for a free trade zone. While the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice is 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.
“This arm-twisting tactic by the Chinese company is the latest in a long list of failed moves to attach Nigerian government-owned assets in foreign jurisdictions.
“The material facts in the transaction between the Ogun State government and Zhongshan point to another P&ID case in which unscrupulous and questionable individuals falsely present themselves as investors with the sole objective of undercutting and scamming governments in Africa.
“Undoubtedly, Zhongshan withheld vital information and misled the Judicial Court in Paris into attaching the Nigerian government’s Presidential jets, which are on routine maintenance in France. The use and nature of the Presidential jets as assets of a Sovereign entity whose assets are protected by diplomatic immunity forbid any foreign Court from issuing an order against them.
“We are convinced the Chinese company misled the Judicial Court of Paris regarding the use and nature of the assets it seeks to attach and did not fully disclose to the court as required by law.
“This same Chinese company had tried to enforce its questionable judgment in the UK and USA but failed.
“We want to assure Nigerians that the federal government is working with the Ogun State government to discharge this frivolous order in Paris immediately.”
The Ogun State government released a statement criticizing the judicial process that led to the provisional attachment of three Nigerian government-owned aircraft in France.
They described the move as a new attempt by a Chinese company to seize Nigerian assets in foreign jurisdictions, following previous unsuccessful efforts.
Additionally, the federal government addressed the attachment of three presidential aircraft in connection with an arbitral award by a Chinese company, stating that it was “inappropriate.”
The government further explained that legal and diplomatic measures have been initiated to ensure the release of the aircraft, emphasizing that the aircraft are covered by sovereign immunity despite the enforcement of orders against them in line with international law principles that attribute the actions of subnational entities to the state or country itself.
“While further actions are being put in place to resolve the entire dispute through available legal means, the firm position of the federal government remains that the aircrafts in question are sovereign assets used solely for sovereign purposes and are therefore immune from attachment as Zhongshan has sought to do,” the statement reads.
