….Police deny involvement as Ogun declines comment.
The management of a Chinese firm, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Company Limited, has said its top officials were unlawfully detained and brutalised by the police during its contractual disagreement with the Ogun State Government.
The firm said the maltreatment compelled it to seek the seizure of Nigerian assets overseas.
The media was awash on Thursday with the news of the seizure of three of Nigeria’s presidential jets, as ordered by a French court.
Two of the seized jets – a Dassault Falcon 7X and a Boeing 737 – are part of Nigeria’s presidential air fleet recently put up for sale, and the third is an Airbus 330 purchased by Nigeria but not yet delivered.
The planes, which were undergoing routine maintenance, were seized following ex parte orders issued by the judicial court of Paris on March 7 and August 12, 2024.
The seizure came after litigations were initiated by the Chinese company against the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Ogun State Government due to the termination of a contractual agreement.
An arbitral tribunal subsequently awarded Zhongshan about $74.5m in compensation, but the state government did not honour the ruling.
The company then sought the intervention of the French court, which ordered the seizure of the Federal Government’s jets, including a Dassault Falcon 7X at Le Bourget Airport in Paris, a Boeing 737, and an Airbus 330 at Basel-Mulhouse Airport in Switzerland.
The Nigerian government reportedly paid over $100m for the Airbus.
Peoplesmind gathered that Zhongshan might have rejected all settlement discussions on reasonable terms proposed by the Ogun State Government due to the alleged assault on its officials.
Zhongshan, in its statement of claim to the French court, said members of its management team in Nigeria were physically harmed after being threatened.
Peoplesmind