By Cheta Enyoghasi
A French court has ordered the seizure of three Nigerian presidential jets after a petition was filed by a Chinese firm, Zhongshan against a state in the country.
According to PREMIUM TIMES, the confiscation is the consequence of a contract disagreement between Zhongshan and the Ogun State government.
The Ogun State government terminated the company’s export processing zone management contract in 2016.
A French court ordered the seizure of the three presidential jets due to the dispute.
The seized jets, which are part of Nigeria’s presidential aviation fleet, include a Dassault Falcon 7X at Le Bourget airport in Paris, a Boeing 737, and an undelivered Airbus 330 at Basel-Mulhouse airport in Switzerland, which Nigeria purchased but has yet to receive.
The court order prohibits the movement, sale, or purchase of the jets until Zhongshan receives the awarded amount, leaving the Nigerian government responsible for the actions of its subnational entity.
The seizure is the result of the government’s failure to honour a $74.5 million award made to Zhongshan by an independent arbitral tribunal chaired by the former President of the United Kingdom Supreme Court.
Despite the federal government’s efforts to resolve the matter peacefully, the Ogun State administration has yet to comply with the award.
Bailiffs have already served papers for each aircraft, and the Nigerian government is yet to comment on the situation.
