A court in France ruled on the confiscation of three Nigerian presidential aircraft because of the legal problem between Ogun State and Zhongshan which is a company from China. These planes which were seized are worth more than $100 million including Dassault Falcon 7X, Boeing 737, and Airbus 330, that are presently undergoing maintenance in France and Switzerland.
The conflict stems from the Ogun State government’s decision in 2016 to revoke Zhongshan’s contract for managing export processing zones, leading to an award of $74.5 million by independent arbitral tribunal. As it happened Nigerian government didn’t honour this compensation and Zhongshan applied for its enforcement against Nigerian assets abroad.
The French court’s order forbids movement, sale or purchase of these jets until the compensation is paid. Legal papers have been served by bailiffs on each aircraft effectively raising the stakes in the legal battle.
This comes after a similar event occurred in UK, where Nigerian-owned properties were seized in connection with the same dispute. The Nigerian government has not yet issued a statement on the seizures.
