Emmanuel Daudu
The Presidency has condemned the ongoing attempts by Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited, a Chinese company, to seize Nigerian government assets overseas through what it described as “subterfuge and unorthodox means.”
The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a press statement he signed and made available to journalists on Thursday in Abuja, expressed that the Federal Government has emphasized that it is not under any contractual obligation with Zhongshan Fucheng.
The dispute, which the Chinese company is exploiting to target Nigeria’s assets, is between Zhongshan and the Ogun State Government.
The government highlighted that the Ogun State Government has been working diligently towards an amicable resolution of the matter. However, it firmly asserted that Zhongshan has no legitimate grounds for demanding restitution from Ogun State based on a 2007 contract to manage a free-trade zone.
He noted that the contract was revoked in 2015, when the company had only managed to erect a perimeter fence on the land designated for the project.
Despite ongoing efforts by the Ogun State Government and the Attorney-General of the Federation to resolve the issue, Zhongshan has pursued a series of legal maneuvers, including obtaining two orders from the Judicial Court of Paris on March 7, 2024, and August 12, 2024.
The Nigerian government insists that these orders were secured without proper notice to either the Federal Government or Ogun State, characterizing the company’s actions as part of a broader strategy to unjustly seize Nigerian assets abroad.
The Nigerian government accused Zhongshan of withholding vital information and misleading the Paris court into wrongfully attaching presidential jets undergoing routine maintenance in France, which are protected by diplomatic immunity.
Furthermore, the Presidency noted that Zhongshan has previously tried and failed to enforce its questionable judgment in both the United Kingdom and the United States.
The company is alleged to have sold its judgment to a venture capitalist aiming to profit by embarrassing the Federal Government and President Bola Tinubu.
The Nigerian government assured its citizens that it is working closely with the Ogun State Government to overturn the “frivolous” court order in Paris.
It reiterated its commitment to protecting national assets from predators and Shylocks who masquerade themselves as investors
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