Serious charges alleging violations of human rights against officials of Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Co. Limited have been brought against the Nigerian police and the government of Ogun State by a U.S. court.
According to court records, the executives were beaten, refused food and drink, and taken into custody at gunpoint. Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Ltd. (Appellee) v. Federal Republic of Nigeria (Appellant) US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit released these conclusions. The case was determined on August 9, 2024, after it was debated on April 22, 2024.
Court records also show that threats were made against Chinese company leaders. The issue has to do with the dispute surrounding the foreign seizure of Nigeria’s presidential aircraft.
According to Judge Millett’s court ruling, these incidents took place when Ogun State attempted to end its agreements with Zhongshan over the creation of a free trade zone within the state.
Zhongshan’s parent firm was hired by the Ogun Guangdong Free Trade Zone firm in 2010 to create an industrial park inside the free trade zone. Tenants would be able to use the factories that Zhongshan’s parent firm developed and constructed in the park.
But in the first half of 2016, Ogun State called off their contracts with Zhongshan, claiming that Zhongshan had deceived Ogun and that another Chinese business should have been awarded Zhongshan’s portion of the free trade zone.
According to court records, “As tensions escalated, an Ogun official texted a Zhongshan executive advising him to ‘leave peacefully’ to avoid ‘forceful removal, complications, and possible prosecution.’”
Following that, Ogun issued arrest warrants for two executives from Zhongshan, alleging “criminal breach of trust.” Nigerian federal police detained one executive for 10 days, beating him, depriving him of food and water, and questioning him about the location of the other executive. The arrest took place at gunpoint.
The state’s earlier negotiations with Zhongshan were overturned, according to Ogun State’s Special Advisor on Media and Strategy, Hon. Kayode Akinmade, who made this announcement on Thursday. According to Akinmade, Ogun State was notified that Zhongshan had temporarily attached three government-owned aircraft in Nigeria to its property in France. This action was taken in response to two court orders from Paris dated March 7, 2024, and August 12, 2024, which were obtained without informing Ogun State, the Federal Government of Nigeria, or their legal representatives.
He said that none of Zhongshan’s attempts to seize assets owned by Nigerians overseas had succeeded in recouping money from Nigeria. He continued by saying that the airplanes in question are exempt from attachment under French and international law because they are only used for sovereign reasons.
