FG taking legal, diplomatic steps to recover seized presidential aircraft-AGF

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), has said that his office and that of the National Security Adviser, have commenced legal and diplomatic moves to recover three of Nigeria’s presidential aircraft seized in France over a fine awarded against Ogun State.

This was contained in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Communication and Publicity, Office of the AGF, Kamarudeen Ogundele, on Thursday in Abuja.

“The Offices of the National Security Adviser and the Attorney-General of the Federation, have already set in motion both legal and diplomatic steps to ensure the discharge of the inappropriate orders against the aircraft, which are covered by sovereign immunity.

“While further actions are being put in place to resolve the entire dispute through available legal means, the firm position of the Federal Government remains that the aircraft in question are sovereign assets used solely for sovereign purposes and are therefore immune from attachment as Zhongshan has sought to do,” the statement read in part.”

Recall that a French court had authorised the seizure of three of Nigeria’s presidential jets, two of the jets, were part of Nigeria’s presidential air fleet that was recently put up for sale, and the third, an Airbus 330, purchased by Nigeria but not yet delivered.

The seized presidential jets include a Dassault Falcon 7X at Le Bourget airport in Paris, a Boeing 737, and an Airbus 330 at Basel-Mulhouse airport in Switzerland. All three of them currently undergoing maintenance.

The Nigerian government reportedly paid over $100 million for the Airbus.

The jets were seized following an application by Zhongshan, a Chinese company whose export processing zone management contract was revoked by the Ogun State government in 2016.

Zhongshan had dragged the Ogun State government to court where an independent arbitral tribunal chaired by the former President of the UK Supreme Court awarded Zhongshan about $74.5 million in compensation which the Ogun State government, is yet to honour.

The court order prohibited Nigeria from moving or selling the presidential jets until the Chinese firm Zhongshan has been paid the $74.5 million from Ogun state, its sub-nationa