The Federal Government of Nigeria has accused a Chinese company, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited, of subterfuge after a French court ruled in favour of the firm and granted the seizure of presidential jets belonging to the Nigerian government.
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”.
In the dispute involving an arbitration award, the court in Paris ruled in favour of the Chinese firm, allowing it to seize three presidential jets on routine maintenance in France as “security” for claims in a decades-long judicial matter between the foreign company and the Ogun State government.
Free-Trade Zone Row
Back in 2007, the foreign firm signed a contract with the Ogun State government to manage a free-trade zone but the contract was revoked by the state government in 2015.
Displeased, Zhongshan initiated an investment treaty arbitration against Nigeria under the bilateral investment treaty between the People’s Republic of China and Nigeria (the China-Nigeria BIT).
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.
The latest jurisdiction is in France, where three Nigerian presidential jets are on routine maintenance.
According to reports, the court in Paris held that the seizure of the jets was to “preserve the claim arising from the arbitration award dated 26 March 2021, made by an ad hoc arbitral tribunal”.
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“When the contract with Ogun State was revoked in 2015, the company had only erected a perimeter fence on the land earmarked for a free trade zone,” he said.
Arm-Twisting Tactics?
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”.
“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.”
He claimed the foreign company “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 want to assure Nigerians that the Federal Government is working with the Ogun State Government to discharge this frivolous order in Paris immediately.
“Nigerian Government will always work to protect our national assets from predators and shylocks who masquerade as investors,” he noted.
Shrinking Presidential Fleet
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.
The health state of the Presidential Air Fleet has been source of concern of late.
In May, a faulty presidential jet stopped Vice President Kashim Shettima from attending the 2024 US-Africa Business Summit hosted by the Corporate Council on Africa.
Last December, a presidential aircraft, Falcon 900B, was put up for sale, with the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) asking interested persons to submit their bids for the purchase of the aircraft.