- 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.
Saturday PUNCH 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.
It alleged that the Ogun State Government used the police to assault, threaten, and unlawfully detain its workers after the government revoked its export processing zone management contract.
The company claimed that its personnel, including the Chief Financial Officer of Zhongfu Nigeria Ltd. (a subsidiary of Zhongshan), Mr Wenxiao Zhao, suffered verbal and physical assault by the police, acting on orders from the state government.
In its statement of claim through its solicitors, Withers LLP and Radix Legal & Consulting Limited, Zhongshan claimed it lost $1.078bn following the termination of the contract.
The company stated, “The draconian actions of the Nigerian authorities included the Secretary to the Ogun State Government (Taiwo Adeoluwa) directly threatening Zhongfu Nigeria’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Jianxin Han, to leave peacefully when there is an opportunity to do so, and avoid forceful removal, complications, and possible prosecution.
“As if this treatment were not appalling enough, the Nigerian authorities followed through on their threats of physical harm to the claimant’s management team in Nigeria. The police arrested the Chief Financial Officer of Zhongfu Nigeria, Mr Wenxiao Zhao, detained him without basis or explanation in terrible conditions, and physically beat him on two occasions before releasing him—without any charge—after a week in two jails.”
Recounting his ordeal in police custody, Zhao said, “One police officer in uniform came over to me and slapped me twice on the face. Then the police officers who brought me there took me to a room where they asked me to sign a piece of paper.
“They did not say or explain what this paper was or what it said. I refused to sign the piece of paper. The police officers then took my flip-flops and placed me in a courtyard with a number of cells surrounding it. It was dark and cold, and I was standing at the gate to one of the cells.
“Another prisoner came out of that cell and asked why I was taken. I did not speak. There were also some other people who had been brought to the courtyard, and the prisoner told us to stand side by side and asked whether we had money and why we were there. If someone had no money, he would slap them.
“Then the prisoner took me aside and asked me to speak. He said that if I did not speak, he would beat me with a club. Later, a second prisoner took me aside and told me not to be afraid. However, the first prisoner came back and threatened me with a club and asked me to speak, which I did not do.
“On what I think was the third day in the Abuja police station, a lot of people were brought into the office. The police officers moved me to another office. The police officer then approached me asking what happened. I did not respond, and he hit me twice, first on the neck and the second time on the head with a fist. It was painful, and I felt numb.
“Fearing for their safety, Zhongfu Nigeria’s management team was forced to leave Nigeria. Zhongfu Nigeria tried to take preventive legal steps in the Nigerian courts to preserve their rights, but the Ogun State Government, NEPZA, and the police orchestrated the complete evisceration of the claimant’s investment in Nigeria.”
When contacted for a reaction to the allegation of threat, the Special Adviser to the Ogun State Governor on Media and Strategy, Kayode Akinmade, said the administration of Governor Dapo Abiodun knew nothing about the claims of the Chinese firm and could not respond to them.
Akinmade said, “The incident happened over three years before the present administration came on board. I can’t speak on something we know nothing about. We don’t know what happened at that time. But we will ensure our people are not shortchanged or defrauded through fraudulent judgment.”.
The Ogun State Police Public Relations Office, Omolola Odutola, said the police were not involved in the matter.
She said, “It is not a police issue; we are not involved. It doesn’t have anything to do with us.”
Commenting on the matter, a former Nigerian ambassador to the Philippines, Yemi Farounbi, described the seizure of the presidential jets as an avoidable diplomatic embarrassment.
He said the development was a reflection of some state governments’ irresponsibility.
Speaking with Saturday PUNCH, Farounbi said, “It is a testimony of the irresponsibility of some of our state governments in the kinds of agreements they enter into.
“It is unfortunate, particularly when our presidential jets, and as I also read, some of our buildings and other properties somewhere, are being held because the state government made an irresponsible arrangement with a foreign company.
“It becomes important for us to verify the terms and conditions of some of these foreign contracts we go into, so that we don’t mortgage the future of our country, citizens, and indeed our properties, because we have not taken adequate care in examining critically the terms of the agreements or contracts that we enter into. What happened is an international embarrassment that is avoidable.”
Meanwhile, one of the seized jets has reportedly been released for the use of President Bola Tinubu, who is scheduled to meet the France President, Emmanuel Macron.
A spokesperson for the Chinese company, on Friday, said, “Zhongshan has been made aware that an Airbus A330, currently detained in France as a result of a French court order obtained by Zhongshan, is needed for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to travel to a scheduled meeting with President Macron of France early next week.
“As a gesture of goodwill, Zhongshan has lifted the seizure of that aircraft immediately. This will allow it to be used for the president’s trip.”