By Sabiu Gaya
Since the news broke that a Chinese firm, Zhongfu Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited, tried to take over offshore assets of the Federal Government of Nigeria through subterfuge because of an unfinished business deal between the company and Ogun State government, there have been consistent debates over whether the behaviour of the firm was right or a mere abuse of international power.
The botched business has also brought out former Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, from his cocoon. This is expected because the deal between the company and Ogun State was sealed in 2007, when Amosun governor. In reality, the main issue has to do with a business dispute between two Chinese nationals and corporations, which degenerated into an unlawful attempt to appropriate Nigeria’s sovereign assets.
Nigeria as a country should also think twice before giving Zhongfu International Investment FXE any listening ear because doing so would amount to indulging and encouraging an unlawful entity without locus standi to appropriate our common patrimony.
Commendably, the federal government acted quickly and wisely by addressing the issues and establishing how the company in question wanted to fraudulently strip Nigeria’s assets abroad.
Reading through Amosun’s reaction captioned: ‘Presidential Jets Seizure: Zhongfu Firm Is An Impostor, It’s Chinese Against Chinese Dispute’ gave me goose bumps. In the short reaction, the former governor spoke to facts, dates and figures. Indeed, available documents on the agreement showed that the management of the Chinese firm denigrated the state and the former governor and assumed they could get away with any claim.
According to the statement, shortly after Amosun’s administration assumed office on May 29, 2011, two different sets of Chinese companies, Messrs China Africa Investment FXE and Zhongfu International Investment FXE laid claims to management rights over the Ogun Guangdong Free Trade Zone (OGFTZ). The business dispute and rivalry between the Chinese concerns soon became fierce, grounded seamless business activities and threatened public peace and safety within the zone and neighbouring communities.
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The former governor stated that there were claims and counter claims as to who between the two was the lawful representative of the original joint partner, Guangdong Province, China and consequentially who had the right to manage the zone.
Zhongfu International Investment FXE, pretending to be a concerned and genuine tenant and zone stakeholder, volunteered very damaging and destructive information about the official representatives of Guangdong Province, the Joint Venturer and lawful Zone Managers, China Africa Investment FXE and subsequently requested to be appointed as Interim Zone Managers.
Based on the information at the disposal of Ogun State government at the time, Zhongfu International Investment FXE was said to have on March 15, 2012 appointed as Interim Zone Manager pending further evaluation. The whole idea was to ensure that someone was in charge and thereby prevent unwholesome and untoward development in the zone pending the completion of the fact-finding exercise by the state government.
It was later discovered that the information and claims volunteered by Zhongfu International Investment FXE against China Africa Investment FXE were tissues of lies. Unknown to the Ogun State government at the time, Zhongfu International Investment FXE merely sought to de-market China Africa Investment FXE and to surreptitiously convert the state-owned assets of Guangdong Province in China together with the zone ownership and management rights of their business rival.
The deceit was further discovered – much later – through the intervention of the Chinese government via Diplomatic Note 1601, dated March 11, 2016. The Government of the People’s Republic of China, via that note 1601 clarified to the Ogun State government, that China Africa Investment FXE was the rightful investor. After due consultation with the relevant organs of government, the state government gave effect to the request of the Chinese government.
Records have since shown that Zhongfu International Investment FXE approached Nigerian courts in different jurisdictions to ventilate its legal and business rights. They lost all their four cases in court. Sadly, nobody has cared to ask questions over all these.
Besides, further developments and findings have revealed that the state government didn’t act alone as effort was made early enough to consult with and seek advice from the State Security Services and the supervising Agency, NEPZA, on the best way forward.
Accordingly, the Ogun State government served Zhongfu International Investment FXE with a formal Termination Notice dated May 27, 2016. But the company didn’t give up, but rather proceeded to court to validate its claims.
Among others, the proceedings in Suit No HCT/417/2016: Zhongfu International Investment FXE Vs OGFTZ and, FCT/ABJ/CS/601/2016: Zhongfu International Investment FXE Vs NEPZA & Ors will help to throw light on this business dispute between two Chinese entities- Zhongfu and China Africa.
The final judgment in one other case, Suit No AB/04/2017: Zenith Global Merchant International Investment Ltd Vs Zhongfu International Investment FXE delivered on March 29, 2017 specifically restrained a reference to arbitration in the special circumstances of the matter being a trade dispute between two Chinese entities- Zhongfu and China Africa, with little or no connection with either Ogun State or the Federal Government.
Dissatisfied with the decisions of the various courts, Zhongfu International Investment FXE took its case, and wrote petitions at various times to higher authorities in Abuja; the Presidency, Hon Minister of Trade & Investment; Attorney General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, Inspector General of Police, EFCC and the National Assembly (both the House of Representatives and the Senate) among others.
Meanwhile, the Ogun State government, under Amosun, successfully defended the administration’s actions at all levels before these organs of government, and they all agreed with the state government’s position. Shortly after, Amosun and his team left office in May, 2019.
Amosun has stated that the agreement that was entered into at inception of the Zone in 2007 with his predecessor is what is still in operation and there was no need for any negotiation or re-negotiation of any contract when his team came in and throughout their eight years tenure. Again, Amosun has refuted claims that his administration sent police or any security agent to harass, intimidate, or beat anyone. “If there was any such situation, it must have been from among the disputing rivals in the bid to outdo one another. Security agencies can further investigate the allegation and uphold the truth,” the former governor stated.
To him, this matter of Zhongfu International Investment FXE should be treated the way Nigeria treated the P&ID case. “There is no basis for negotiation,” he said emphatically.
Amosun has offered himself to work with the agencies of government in any capacity to ensure that Nigeria is not scammed by Zhongfu International Investment FXE, or any other entity.
The position of Amosun aligns with that of the Federal Government. In a statement signed by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, the federal government emphatically stated that it’s not under any contractual obligation with the company.
From the perspective of law guiding international business relationships, Zhongshan has no legal ground to demand restitution from Ogun State government in this matter.
• Gaya, educationist and public policy analyst, writes from Kano.