Presidential aircraft: Ogun moves to vacate seizure order, faults fraudulent legal process by Zhongshan

The Ogun State Government on Thursday faulted the judicial process that led to the provisional attachment of three Nigerian government-owned aircraft in France by the Judicial Court of Paris on March 7th and August 2nd, 2024.

It would be recalled that a Chinese company, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Ltd, had sought several orders from the court over an aborted underlying contract between the company and the Ogun State Government, which was initiated in 2007.

In a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Strategy, Hon. Kayode Akinmade, the Ogun State Government described the latest development as new antics by the Chinese company to appropriate Nigerian assets in foreign jurisdictions, as past efforts had continually failed.

The statement described the whole legal process as nothing but a total charade with fraudulent notions, adding that the company deliberately concealed the litigation from both the Nigerian government and Ogun State, as well as their legal counsels, before hurriedly securing orders of seizure.

It added that the company must have misled the Judicial Court of Paris regarding the use and nature of the assets it sought to attach and failed to make full disclosure to the court as required by law.

According to the statement, Ogun State, together with the Federal Government, had already taken immediate action to ensure that those provisional attachments are lifted quickly, even as it accused the company of reneging on the earlier discussion for an amicable resolution of the case.

It likened the case to that of P&ID, describing it as another unfortunate case of unscrupulous individuals masquerading as foreign investors with the sole aim of defrauding Ogun State and Nigeria at large.

The statement said: “On August 14, 2024, the attention of the Ogun State Government was drawn to the provisional attachment of three Nigerian government-owned aircraft in France by the Chinese company, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Ltd. (Zhongshan). Ogun State also learned of two orders of the Judicial Court of Paris dated March 7, 2024, and August 12, 2024, respectively, both obtained by Zhongshan without notice being duly given to the Federal Government of Nigeria, Ogun State, or their legal counsel.

“This is the latest in a series of ill-advised attempts by Zhongshan to attach Nigerian-owned assets in foreign jurisdictions, none of which have to date led to the recovery of any sums from Nigeria.

“Each of the three aircraft is used solely for sovereign purposes and as such are immune from attachment under international and French laws. In obtaining the provisional attachments, Zhongshan deliberately withheld information from the Federal Government of Nigeria, Ogun State, and their legal counsel.

“Just like the P&ID case, this is another unfortunate case of unscrupulous individuals masquerading as foreign investors with the sole aim of defrauding Ogun State and Nigeria.

“It should be recalled that the underlying contract between Ogun State and Zhongshan was executed in 2007, 12 years before the present administration, for the management of a free trade zone. The parties entered into a dispute in 2015 with arbitration commencing in 2016.

“By 2019, when the current State Administration took office, the hearing at the arbitration had been all but concluded. The Arbitral Panel awarded over 60 million USD against the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), which was a co-defendant, when all Zhongshan had done was to build a perimeter fence around the free trade zone. Needless to say, this was a bad/unfair decision.

“The present State Administration could not, in all good conscience, allow such an unconscionable and baseless decision, which would dissipate the commonwealth of the good people of Ogun State, to stand.

“Accordingly, and based on erudite legal advice, this Administration resolved to resist the enforcement of the award. The resistance was successful in eight different jurisdictions. Currently, there are pending appeals against recognition orders issued in both the US and UK,” the statement read.