The management of Chinese company, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Company Limited, claims that some of its executives were wrongfully detained and brutalised by police during a contractual dispute with Nigeria’s Ogun State government.

The firm said that the mistreatment forced it to pursue the seizure of Nigerian assets abroad.

On Thursday, the media was flooded with reports of the seizure of three of Nigeria’s presidential jets, as ordered by a French court.

Two of the confiscated jets, a Dassault Falcon 7X and a Boeing 737, are part of Nigeria’s presidential air fleet, which was recently placed up for sale, while the third is an Airbus 330 that Nigeria purchased but has yet to be delivered.

The planes, which were undergoing routine maintenance, were confiscated following ex parte orders obtained by the Paris judicial court on March 7 and August 12, 2024.

An arbitral tribunal subsequently awarded Zhongshan about $74.5m in compensation, but the state government did not honour the ruling.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 panel later awarded Zhongshan around $74.5 million in compensation, but the state administration ignored the decision.

Zhongshan stated in its statement of claim to the French court that members of its Nigerian management team were physically harmed as a result of threats.

It claimed that the Ogun State Government utilised the police to beat, threaten, and wrongfully imprison its employees after the government terminated its export processing zone management 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.”

Meanwhile, the Ogun State Police Public Relations Office, Omolola Odutola, said the police were not involved in the matter.

She said, “It is not a police issue; we are not involved. It doesn’t have anything to do with us.”