News
Three Presidential jets, including newly purchased one impounded in France
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
Three Nigerian presidential jets, including a newly purchased Airbus, have reportedly been seized by a French court amid legal dispute.
Three aircraft associated with the Nigerian government have been seized under the authority of a French court following a protracted legal battle between a sub-national and Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Ltd, a Chinese company, according to a Premium Times report.
The seizure includes a newly acquired Airbus A330 valued at over $100 million.
The aircraft in question—a Dassault Falcon 7X, a Boeing 737, and an Airbus A330—had either been part of the Nigerian presidential fleet or were recently purchased by the government.
The report says the Dassault Falcon 7X was undergoing maintenance at Paris-Le Bourget airport, while the Boeing 737 and Airbus A330 were stationed at Basel-Mulhouse International Airport for similar reasons.
Efforts to get a reaction from the Presidency until a presidential media aide advised that the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, was in the best position to speak on the incident.
Keyamo’s media aide Tunde Moshood refused to confirm or deny the report but also advised that the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, would be in a better position to speak on the matter.
Attempts to reach Fagbemi have been futile as at press time but a spokesperson asked for time to make findings and promised to revert once he had more information.
According to the report, 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jets is a result of an application by Zhongshan, a Chinese company whose export processing zone management contract was revoked by the Ogun State government in 2016.
Despite an arbitral tribunal, chaired by a former President of the UK Supreme Court, ruling in favour of Zhongshan and awarding them €74,459,221 in compensation, the decision has yet to be honoured.
As a result, Zhongshan sought enforcement of the arbitral award through the French legal system. The enforcement judge at the Paris Judicial Court granted the company authority to seize the aircraft, stating in the court order, “This protective seizure will take place to secure and preserve the claim arising from the arbitration award dated 26 March 2021, made by an ad hoc arbitral tribunal.”
The court further ordered that the aircraft be secured in such a way as to prevent their movement, saying, “The aircraft… will be positioned so that the cockpit faces a wall or building or in any other way that prevents it from taking off again autonomously.”
The report further adds that Zhongshan has taken similar actions in the United Kingdom, with buildings owned by the Nigerian government in Liverpool seized under the orders of a UK court in relation to the same unresolved dispute.
News
Bury the thought, it’s not your destiny to be president – Wike’s Aide carpets Atiku
Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media to Federal Capital Territory FCT Minister, Lere Olayinka, has told former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar to jettison his ambition to govern the country in 2027, saying the 2023 Peoples Democratic Party PDP presidential candidate was not destined to rule the country.
Olayinka in a statement in Abuja yesterday, said “The PDP presidential ticket will no longer be available to be wasted by serial betrayals of the party, who are obviously suffering the consequences of their past sins against the party and its members”.
Insisting that Atiku should perish the thought of contesting the 2027 presidential election as candidate of the PDP, Olayinka said “Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and those egging him on for their benefits should let the PDP breathe.”
FCT Minister, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike had said during a live media parley in his office in Abuja on Wednesday that there would be no chance for Atiku, who was the 2023 Presidential candidate of the PDP to secure the party’s ticket in 2027.
Reacting through his Media Aide, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku had alluded to his defeat of Wike to pick the 2023 PDP presidential ticket as well as the former governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, to emerge as the candidate in 2019.
However, in a statement yesterday, Olayinka, said Atiku’s “celebration of his narrow and fraudulent defeat of Wike in the 2022 PDP primary was funny and childish”, adding that “it is like Arsenal fans jumping to the rooftops to celebrate the club’s narrow defeat of Super Falcons.”
He said: “That Atiku is venerating himself for contesting PDP ticket with Wike and Tambuwal, people who were just a little above 25 as of 1993, when he contested the Social Democratic Party SDP presidential primary and came third, is the more reason he needs to go home and rest and stop acting like the proverbial cock that failed to realize that it is now elderly.”
Describing Atiku as someone not destined to be president of Nigeria, Olayinka said; “It is obvious that he (Atiku) is paying the price of betraying the PDP in 2003, 2007 and 2014. If not, the same presidency he has contested twice and lost, could have been his to just pick if he had avoided being inordinately ambitious while he was Vice President.”
“It was this desperation that made him to contest for president as candidate of Action Congress in 2007, while still serving as Vice President, elected under the platform of the PDP. A serving Vice President joining others to form another party and contesting as candidate of the new party against his own party.
That’s Alhaji Atiku Abubakar!
“Most importantly, Atiku’s conscience will continue to prick him on his roles in Lagos in 2023, and I am sure that even his apology to PDP members in 2018 can never remove from his body, that garment of betrayal.
“Therefore, it is again being sounded to his ears and those of the people lying to him that he is the only one who can win the presidency for the PDP that the ticket of the party will not be for someone like him, who will lose election and run to Dubai, only to come back two years to another election”, Olayinka added
CityNews
News
Confusion As ‘Baltasar Engonga’ was cornered and fl0gged by husbands of the women he sl3eps with
A man dubbed Zimbabwe’s own “Baltasar” faced violent retribution from a group of enraged husbands after being accused of having affairs with their wives.
In a video shared by Crimewatch Zimbabwe on X (formerly Twitter), several men from the Mapostori sect were seen beating the man, holding him down while others struck him with what appeared to be rubber sticks.
The video, recorded by a witness and later posted on social media, shows the men interrogating him. At one point, one of the attackers questions, “How many women have you slept with, and why did you do it?” Reports indicate that the man allegedly engaged in these relationships after some women claimed their husbands were not satisfying them.
Social media reactions were swift, with users tagging the police to intervene and arrest the men involved in the assault. Many viewers expressed shock, noting a recent rise in arrests related to assaults on cheating partners and their spouses.
News
SAD! Super Eagles goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali, loses father
Super Eagles goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali, has lost his father.
Nwabali took to Instagram on Friday to mourn his father, sharing a post accompanied by a tearful emoji.
Although the goalie did not reveal the cause of the death instead shared a heartfelt tribute with message, “Rest in peace, dad”.
Details later…
-
News24 hours ago
Sad! Body of COAS, Lt General Taoreed Lagbaja, ready to be airlifted to Abuja(Photos)
-
News24 hours ago
Confusion as Chinese Tears Naira Notes in Protest During Lagos Govt Raid(Photos)
-
News14 hours ago
SAD! Popular gospel film producer Baba Gbenro passes on
-
News19 hours ago
Court Gives Falanas, January Date To Prove Case Against VDM
-
News24 hours ago
Naira slumps in parallel market
-
News19 hours ago
It’s wrong to arrest individuals in place of suspects — Says PSC chairman
-
News19 hours ago
READ 8 Facts About New Lakurawa Terror Group in North West
-
News6 hours ago
GTBank Vs Journalists: 3 SANs Join Defence Counsel