The Presidency on Thursday described as fruadulent the efforts by a Chinese company, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited, to take over some jets on Nigeria’s Presidential Air Fleet.
According to a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, “The Federal Government is not under any contractual obligation with the company.
“The case in which Zhongshan is trying to use every unorthodox means to strip our offshore assets is between the company and the Ogun State Government.”
In the statement from the presidency jtitled ‘Chinese company’s fraudulent attempt to strip Nigeria’s assets abroad,’ Onanuga was responding to earlier reports that a French Court had sanctioned the seizure of three Nigerian presidential jets, including a newly purchased Airbus, amid a legal dispute between Zhongshan and the Ogun State Government.
The presidential aide said, “The federal government is not under any contractual obligation with the company. The case in which Zhongshan is trying to use every unorthodox means to strip our offshore assets is between the company and the Ogun State Government.
“The Federal Government is fully aware of efforts being made by the Ogun State Government to reach an amicable resolution on the matter.
“It must be said without any equivocation that Zhongshan has no solid ground to demand restitution from the Ogun State Government based on the facts regarding the 2007 contract between the company and the State Government to manage a free-trade zone.”
