A Chinese firm, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Company has announced the release of one of the three Nigerian presidential jets seized on the order of a French court.
The company’s spokesperson disclosed this in a statement on Friday.
According to the company, the release of the aircraft is a gesture of goodwill as they have been made aware that the Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu would be needing it for a scheduled meeting with French President, Emmanuel Macron.
It has now been made aware that an Airbus A330, currently detained in France as a result of a French court order obtained by Zhongshan, is needed for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to travel to a scheduled meeting with President Macron of France early next week.
“As a gesture of goodwill, Zhongshan has lifted the seizure of that aircraft immediately. This will allow it to be used for the President’s trip,” the company stated.
This comes after the firm secured a court order to seize a Dassault Falcon 7X, a Boeing 737-7N6/BBJ, and an Airbus A330-243 belonging to the Federal Government of Nigeria, stationed at airports in France.
The row stems from a 2007 contract between Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment and Nigeria’s south-western Ogun State to develop a free-trade zone where a massive industrial park was to be developed to attract investors.
The agreement was terminated between 2015 and 2016. According to the Financial Times, Zhongshan said it was forced out of the deal through a “campaign of illegal acts”.
In March 2021 an arbitration tribunal – chaired by the president of the UK Supreme Court – awarded $74.5m (£57.8m) in compensation to the Chinese firm. Ogun State reportedly refused to pay this amount.
Nigerian-owned buildings in the British city of Liverpool were recently seized by a UK court in relation to the same dispute, Nigerian newspaper Premium Times reported.
Last Friday, the United States Court of Appeals ruled that Zhongshan could proceed with its efforts to confiscate Nigeria’s assets abroad.
The court also rejected Nigeria’s defence of “sovereign immunity.”
Earlier on Thursday, the Federal Government said it has initiated both legal and diplomatic steps to address the interim attachment of three presidential aircraft in France.
Mr Onanuga said that when the Ogun State contract was revoked, Zhongshan had done no more than erect a perimeter fence on the land earmarked for the free-trade zone.
A free-trade zone is an area where goods can be moved in and out of a country for reduced or no taxes or fees.
Other such zones exist in Nigeria, such as one in Lagos where the Dangote Petroleum Refinery – built by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote – has recently opened.
In a statement issued to Nigerian media, Zhongshan said: “Far from being just a fence, the Ogun Free Trade Zone was featured as a significant international investment by the Economist Intelligence Unit.”
The Nigerian authorities sought to assure its people that it was working to discharge the French court’s “frivolous order”.
“Nigerian government will always work to protect our national assets from predators and shylocks who masquerade as investors,” the statement said.
The regional government in Ogun State released a similar statement, accusing Zhongshan of making a “series of ill-advised attempts” to seize Nigerian assets.
China is Nigeria’s largest import partner and the two have strong trade relations.
The situation has also renewed public debate about whether President Bola Tinubu should have multiple, taxpayer-funded jets when ordinary Nigerians struggle against an intense economic crisis.
Peter Obi, an opposition politician who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2023, said the news of three jets being seized was “embarrassing” and exposed an “insensitivity to the plight of the growing poor class in our midst”.
Tinubu’s aide reacts
Reacting in a statement on Thursday, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, described the French court’s order attaching Nigeria’s presidential jets as a result of the arm-twisting tactic by a Chinese company.
Mr Onanuga highlighted various efforts the federal government and the Ogun State government had made to resolve the matter.
He said the Zhongshan “withheld vital information and misled” the French court in Paris into attaching the Nigerian government’s presidential jets.
