By Pascal Ibe
Claim
An X user, Pst Okezie claimed a French Court ordered immediate release of Nigeria presidential aircraft.
Verdict
This claim is MISLEADING.
No credible report confirmed this to be true. However, the Chinese firm which impounded three Nigerian Presidential jets – Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited – said on Friday it had released one of the aircraft.
Full Text
On Wednesday, Premium Times reported that a French court authorised the seizure of three presidential jets linked to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
According to the report, two of the jets, part of the Nigerian presidential air fleet, were recently put up for sale, while the third, an Airbus 330, was purchased by Nigeria but not yet delivered.
The seizure of the presidential jets is a result of an application by Zhongshan, a Chinese company whose export processing zone management contract was revoked by the Ogun State government in 2016.
An independent arbitral tribunal chaired by the former President of the UK Supreme Court 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.
On Friday (August 16th), an user, Pst Okezie claimed that a French court ordered immediate release of Nigerian presidential aircraft.
He posted, “BREAKING!French Court Orders Immediate Release Of Nigerian Presidential Aircraft.
“Thank you, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
The post which gamered over 80k views had many commenters who believed that this story was true.
Verification
As at August 18th, 2024, thorough search by FactWatch, indicated that there’s no report anywhere by any credible news organization that a French court ordered immediate release of Nigerian presidential aircraft.
However, on Friday, Zhongshan released one of the three Nigerian aircraft detained in France for President Tinubu’s scheduled meeting with Macron.
According to a company spokesperson on Friday, the release of the aircraft is a gesture of goodwill as they have been made aware that the president, Ahmed Bola Tinubu would be needing it for a scheduled meeting with Frances president, Emmanuel Macron.
Reports that supported this can found Here and Here.
Meanwhile, Yusuf Tuggar, the minister of foreign affairs, on Friday, said efforts are on to retrieve the remaining presidential jets seized by the French Court on the requests of Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited, a Chinese firm.
Tuggar stated this on Friday, while speaking with State House journalists, amidst growing concerns over the circumstances that led to the seizure of the presidential jets by the Chinese firm.
Conclusion
At the moment, no French court ordered immediate release of Nigeria presidential aircraft as claimed.
