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.
It was 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.
