Nigerian Government Works to Recover Seized Presidential Jets

The Nigerian government is working on the recovery of three presidential jet aircraft seized in France in a legal dispute involving Ogun State and a Chinese firm called Zhongshan. Lateef Fagbemi, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, declared that his office in cooperation with the National Security Adviser has activated both legal and diplomatic means to challenge the seizure and get it released condemned it. The seized planes were a Dassault Falcon 7X, a Boeing 737, and an Airbus 330. These jets were among the assets detained in response to a $74.5 million in favor of Zhongshan issued by an independent arbitral tribunal. This ruling was a consequence of the export processing zone management contract that the Ogun State government terminated in 2016. Nigeria claims that these jets currently being serviced in France and Switzerland are sovereign assets and should not be legally attached in such manner. Palliative efforts are ongoing to end the legal dispute but the Nigerian representatives support that the aircraft are used only for sovereign purposes and should be immediately released. The assets include the planes and all their accessories tallying to $74 million. The case remains active as both legal and diplomatic efforts are underway to release the attached assets.