Nigeria is facing what has been described as an ‘international embarrassment’ as three of its presidential jets have been ordered to be seized in Switzerland, .
The seizures ordered by a French court followed business gone wrong between the Ogun state government and a Chinese firm called Zhongshan
GTN gathered from reliable sources, that two of the jets, which are part of the presidential air fleet, were recently put up for sale, while the third, an Airbus A330, was purchased by Nigeria recently but not yet delivered.
The report said the seizure of the presidential jets is as a result of an application by Zhongshan, a Chinese company whose export processing zone management contract was revoked by the Ogun State government in 2016.
It resulted in the institution of a case before a tribunal which the paper said led to the establishment of an independent arbitral tribunal chaired by the former President of the UK Supreme Court.
The court then awarded Zhongshan about $74.5 million in compensation, but the Ogun State government, which has a dispute with Zhongshan, has yet to honour the award.
The presidential jets that have been seized include a Dassault Falcon 7X at Le Bourget airport in Paris, a Boeing 737, and an Airbus A330 at Basel-Mulhouse airport in Switzerland.
The jets are undergoing maintenance while the Nigerian government under President Bola Tinubu reportedly paid over $100 million for one of the jets, the Airbus recently.
According to the court order sighted by sources, it prohibits the movement, sale, or purchase of the jets until Zhongshan receives the awarded $74.5 million. Bailiffs have served papers for each aircraft it further reported.
There is no comment by the Nigerian government yet and the presidential spokesman could not be reached for comments on Wednesday.
It would be recalled that, some Nigerian-owned buildings in Liverpool, England, were recently ordered for seizures by a UK court in the same dispute with Zhongshan.
The properties are located at 15 Aigburth Hall Road, Liverpool and Beech Lodge, 49 Calderstones Road, Liverpool, estimated by the company to be worth between £1.3 and £1.7 million.
