Three Nigerian presidential jets were recently seized by a Chinese firm, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Ltd, in France. This development stems from a long-standing legal dispute between the Ogun State Government and Zhongshan over a 2007 contract related to the management of a free-trade zone in Ogun State. The conflict escalated when the Chinese company sought to enforce an arbitration award of over $60 million against Ogun State, which also implicated the Federal Government.
The jets were undergoing routine maintenance in France when Zhongshan obtained ex-parte orders from the Judicial Court of Paris to provisionally attach the aircraft as part of their efforts to recover the debt. The Nigerian government has expressed strong objections, arguing that the Chinese company misled the court by withholding critical information and violating international laws that protect sovereign assets from such attachments. Both legal and diplomatic steps are being taken by the Nigerian authorities to overturn the court’s orders and recover the seized assets. The jets involved include a Dassault Falcon 7X in Paris, a Boeing 737, and an Airbus 330 in Switzerland.
This development has drawn comparisons to the notorious P&ID case, where Nigeria faced similar asset seizures abroad due to legal disputes. Some stakeholders view it as another instance of foreign entities attempting to exploit legal loopholes to claim Nigerian assets under dubious circumstances.
Former Governors Daniel and Amosun speak
Weighing in on the matter, former Ogun State Governor, Gbenga Daniel, who governed the state from 2003 to 2011, said he has documents to assist in the investigation.
A statement from former Governor Daniel’s camp titled “Seized National Assets/Ogun/Guangdong FTZ: Our Story” and made available to newsmen in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, reads: “We need to establish clearly that Otunba Gbenga Daniel or his administration is not in discussion on the matter before the courts and arbitration, neither were the terms or proprietary of the Agreement for the establishment of the FTZ, rather it is the termination of a Management Contract. The judgements in all the courts are very clear on this.
“Rather than engaging in media comments, the most reasonable course of action that Senator Otunba Gbenga Daniel would rather engage in is helping Nigeria, through the President, Bola Tinubu, to find a diplomatic solution to the issue at hand with available records that could assist the Federal Government in pursuing its course at the arbitration and before the courts. He cannot do this on the pages of the newspapers and on other media which may also compromise the strength of Nigeria’s arguments in the courts. We need to also appreciate that this matter is before various courts in several countries and it is subjudice for anyone to speak on them.”
The statement emphasized that the Ogun/Guangdong Free Trade Zone project still exists and several Nigerians are still working there, just as there are several companies still doing their legitimate businesses.
“It is from this perspective of development that the efforts of Otunba Gbenga Daniel should be well appreciated. At the time of his handover in 2011, about 56 companies were at various stages of operations, construction and showing interests in the Free Trade Zone and through which various life-impacting developments have taken place in the Igbesa area, which was an otherwise rural community before the establishment of the Free Trade Zone.
“There are so many incorrect reports and misrepresentation of facts on timelines of activities relating to the establishment and Operations of the Free Trade Zone in circulation especially on social media, and we plead that the media should partner with the Nigerian government in finding a very productive solution to this matter in Nigeria’s interest.
It is not time to play politics with the assets and integrity of our dear country. We sincerely appreciate all efforts at reaching out for Otunba Daniel’s side of the story as we also seek the understanding of all those who called to appreciate his sturdy silence to be able to assist the President on the way out of this testy time and situation,” the statement said.
Similarly, former Governor Ibikunle Amosun, in a statement titled “Presidential jets seizure: Zhongfu firm is an impostor, it’s Chinese against Chinese dispute”, said he was ready to work with the agencies of government in any capacity to ensure that Nigeria is not scammed by Zhongfu International Investment FXE, or any other entity.
Amosun explained that his administration assumed office on 29 May 2011 and very shortly, two different sets of Chinese companies, Messrs China Africa Investment FXE and Zhongfu International Investment FXE, laid claims to management rights over the Ogun Guangdong Free Trade Zone (OGFTZ).
“The business dispute and rivalry between the Chinese concerns soon became fierce, grounded seamless business activities and threatened public peace and safety within the Zone and neighbouring communities,” Amosun said in the statement.
“There were claims and counterclaims as to who between the two was the lawful representative of the original joint venturer, Guangdong Province, China and consequentially who had the right to manage the Zone.
“Zhongfu International Investment FXE, pretending to be a concerned and genuine tenant and Zone stakeholder, volunteered very damaging and destructive information about the official representatives of Guangdong Province, the Joint Venturer and lawful Zone Managers, China Africa Investment FXE and subsequently requested to be appointed as Interim Zone Managers.
“Based on the information at the disposal of the government at the time, Zhongfu International Investment FXE was on 15/03/2012 appointed as Interim Zone Manager pending further evaluation. The whole idea was to ensure that someone was in charge and thereby prevent unwholesome and untoward development in the Zone pending the completion of our fact-finding exercise.
“It was later discovered that the information and claims volunteered by Zhongfu International Investment FXE against China Africa Investment FXE were tissues of lies.
“Unknown to Ogun government at the time, Zhongfu International Investment FXE merely sought to de-market China Africa Investment FXE and to surreptitiously covert the State-owned assets of Guangdong Province in China together with the Zone ownership and management rights of their business rival.
“It was further discovered – much later – through the intervention of the Chinese Government via Diplomatic Note 1601, dated March 11, 2016.
“The Government of the Peoples Republic of China, via its Diplomatic Note 1601 dated March 11, 2016, clarified to the Ogun State Government, that China Africa Investment FXE was the rightful investor. After due consultation with the relevant organs of government, we gave effect to the request of the Chinese government,” he said.
The former governor recalled that Zhongfu International Investment FXE approached Nigerian courts in different jurisdictions to ventilate its legal and business rights but lost all their four cases.
“We also consulted with and took advice from the State Security Services and the supervising Agency, NEPZA, on the best way to proceed. Accordingly, we served Zhongfu International Investment FXE with a formal Termination Notice dated 27 May, 2016.
“For completeness of records, we must mention that Zhongfu International Investment FXE proceeded to Court.
“Among others, the proceedings in Suit No HCT/417/2016: Zhongfu International Investment FXE Vs OGFTZ and, FCT/ABJ/CS/601/2016: Zhongfu International Investment FXE Vs NEPZA & Ors will help to throw light on this business dispute between two Chinese entities- Zhongfu and China Africa.
“The final judgement in one other case, Suit No AB/04/2017: Zenith Global Merchant International Investment Ltd Vs Zhongfu International Investment FXE delivered on 29/3/2017 specifically restrained a reference to arbitration in the special circumstances of the matter being a trade dispute between two Chinese entities – Zhongfu and China Africa, with little or no connection with either Ogun State or the Federal Government.
“Not satisfied with the decisions of the various courts, Zhongfu International Investment FXE took its case, and wrote petitions at various times, to higher authorities in Abuja; the Presidency, Hon Minister of Trade & Investment; Attorney General & Minister of Justice, Inspector General of Police, EFCC and the National Assembly (both the House of Representatives and the Senate) among others.
“We successfully defended our actions at all levels before these organs of government, and they all agreed with our position. Shortly after, our administration left office in May, 2019,” he said.
He further stated, “without prejudice to the ongoing efforts of the Ogun State Government and the Federal Government of Nigeria, and with all sense of responsibility”, that the Agreement that was entered into at inception of the Zone in 2007 with his predecessor is what is still in operation and there was no need for any negotiation or re-negotiation of any contract when he came in and throughout his eight-year tenure.
He also denied that his administration sent police or any security agent to harass, intimidate, or beat anyone.
“If there was any such situation, it must have been from among the disputing rivals in the bid to outdo one another. Security agencies can further investigate the allegation and uphold the truth,” he said.
Amosun urged Nigeria not to give Zhongfu International Investment FXE any listening ear as doing so would amount to indulging and encouraging an unlawful entity without locus standi to appropriate our common patrimony, adding that the matter should be treated the way Nigeria treated the P&ID case as there is no basis for negotiation.
“Like every Nigerian, we are concerned that a purely business dispute between two Chinese nationals and corporations has now degenerated into an unlawful attempt to appropriate Nigeria’s sovereign assets. This is unacceptable to all people of goodwill and must not be allowed to stand,” he said.
Stakeholders react
Speaking on the matter, presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, described the report of the seizure of three presidential jets in France as another embarrassment which exposed failed leadership in Nigeria.
Obi, in a tweet posted on his X account last week Thursday, berated the Federal Government and the Ogun State Government, saying that the aircraft seizure has exposed multiple dimensions to the country’s leadership failure.
“The trending international news on the seizure of three Jets belonging to Nigeria’s Presidential fleet is yet another of many embarrassing things exposing our failed leadership and our attitude to the rule of law even in a democracy. It has also exposed multiple dimensions to our leadership failure and our insensitivity to the plight of the growing poor class in our midst,” Obi said.
“Added to it is the embarrassing aspect of our country’s Presidential jets being held for contractual breaches arising from yet another dimension of inadequate leadership tidiness. I have been loud in my demand over time that the government at all levels should be accountable to the people, meaning that they must be very transparent in all their dealings,” he said.
Also, former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondaokaa SAN, who spoke on Arise TV, said presidential jets are not commercial assets and that presidential planes enjoy absolute sovereign immunity.
“But now where I have a major quarrel with the Chinese people is that the sovereign immunity even after the New York conventions have been classified into two absolute sovereign immunity, properties that belong to the state which the state uses for operational state not commercial basis are in that considered sovereign immunity,” Aondaokaa said.
“I can’t see how a presidential plane anywhere in the world including China can be used for commercial transactions. So I’m still thinking Nigeria has a case to make to retrieve those presidential planes because they enjoy absolute sovereign immunity,” he stated
The seized presidential jets as a result of an agreement between Ogun State government and the Chinese firm Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Ltd has once again raised questions on the kind of foreign direct investment agreement many state governments enter into just to score cheap political points that they are working. Analysts say the federal government must henceforth get involved and monitor agreement between states and other foreign countries or nationals if only to preserve the country’s integrity.
