Presidency Announces Tinubu’s Trip to France After Chinese Firm Leaks Info
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will depart for France on Monday, 19 August 2023, for a “brief work stay”, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, said in a statement yesterday. According to the statement, the President will be back in the country after his “brief” visit to the European nation.
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While Ngelale’s statement was silent on the details of the visit, it came a few days after a major development involving Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited, a Chinese company that is in a legal tussle with Nigeria.
In connection with the contract dispute between the company and the Ogun State government that began in 2016, the firm seized three aircraft belonging to Nigeria: a Dassault Falcon 7X, a Boeing 737-7N6/BBJ, and an Airbus A330-243.
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The Chinese firm had taken the issue to the international courts, which resulted in the order to detain the plane by a French court. Recently, Zhongshan Fucheng declared the release of one of the seized jets, an Airbus A330-243, following revelations that it was needed for President Tinubu’s upcoming meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.
In an emailed statement Friday, a spokesperson for Zhongshan Fucheng said it would always want to cooperate, stating, “Zhongshan has consistently sought to act reasonably and fairly in the course of a legal dispute with Nigeria which was not of its making.” The spokesperson said the seizure order against the Airbus A330-243 had been lifted as a “gesture of goodwill” to enable the President to travel.
This will be the second foreign trip by President Tinubu within a week. The President had just returned to Abuja from a three-day official visit to Equatorial Guinea. The timing of the announcement and the release of the aircraft was a question of coordination between the Nigerian government and the Chinese firm—also with diplomatic and legal implications.
There is a dearth of information concerning President Tinubu’s visit to France, coupled with the fact that no official statement has been made as regards the purpose or agenda for the visit.
