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Published  on the Biafra Post 
August 12, 2024

 

Zhongshang Fucheng Industrial Investment Ltd, the Chinese investment group involved in legal dispute with Nigeria over alleged contract breach by Ogun State government, has concluded plans to list two residential structures in Liverpool it confiscated from the country for sale on global online marketplace eBay.

This is as it races to recover up to $70 million in arbitration awards from Nigeria.

Zhongshang took possession of two buildings linked to the Nigerian government in Liverpool, United Kingdom, in June 2024, years after Nigeria failed to settle an arbitration judgement handed down in 2021, according to People’s Gazette.

The properties, 15, Aigburth Hall Road, Liverpool and Beech Lodge, 49, Calderstones Road, Liverpool, were targeted after a December 2021 British court order gave Zhongshang executives the power to seize Nigerian assets in the UK to retrieve the $70 million payment, which remained outstanding as of August 20, 2024, with two per cent monthly interest accruals.

Zhongshang was awarded $55,675,000 plus interest of $9,400,000 and costs of £2,864,445 as of the date of the arbitration verdict on March 26, 2021, court documents said. The case stemmed from a dispute between Zhongshang and Ogun State. The firm said the state violated a 2001 trade treaty between Nigeria and China when its rights to a free trade zone were rescinded in 2016.

The company dragged Nigeria before the arbitration panel in the UK in 2018, alleging that Nigeria allowed its federal organs like the police, immigration and export processing authority to be deployed by Ogun State without due process. Court documents said two Zhongshang executives were expelled from Nigeria between mid and late 2016 after one of them had allegedly been detained and tortured by the police.

Nigeria which had only recently escaped a similar arbitration decision that awarded over $11 billion to a consortium called P&ID, appears to be back in trouble with another foreign entity.

While the P&ID arbitration verdict was thrown out after it was later discovered that firm’s owners were involved in bribery and corruption, the Zhongshang case appeared different, with several European courts already granted enforcement orders in the UK, Belgium, France and other countries, where Nigerian-owned jets and other assets are being tracked down.

An appellate panel recently declined to grant Nigeria sovereign immunity protection over Zhongshang’s recovery efforts in the United States.

A consultant working with Zhongshang said the company has been working to put the two Liverpool houses up for sale, including on eBay, where the source said up to $2.2 million would be asked for both.

“They said the value of both properties should be around $2.2 million, so they already put together a plan to sell them to willing buyers,” the consultant said under anonymity to discuss client deliberations. “Some websites like eBay might bring buyers faster than other methods.”

Even though the properties belonged to Nigeria, they were seized because they weren’t listed as Nigerian diplomatic or consular assets.

The Gazette reports that those currently occupying the properties had no ties to the Nigerian mission in the UK. It was unclear when Nigeria bought the assets, but a senior judge said its officials had regularly rented out both places to guests.

In her June 14, 2024, ruling allowing Zhongshang to seize the buildings from Nigeria, Master Lisa Sullivan of the UK High Court, King’s Bench Division, said: “The properties are currently used for the purpose of leases to residential tenants unconnected with Nigeria and its mission. Those are commercial purposes for the purpose of s13(4) of the SIA and therefore the enforcement against the properties is not barred by state immunity.”

The source said the sale wouldn’t be done in secret because the Nigerian people deserved to know how much all recovered assets were being sold until the full amount had been recovered.

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“Zhongshang promised to be transparent with the sale because of the keen public interest of Nigerians in the matter,” the consultant added.


Related Topics:Chinese firm confiscates Nigeria’s guest houses in UKZhongshang Fucheng Industrial Investment Ltd
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By Dotun Omisakin
Published On the Biafra post
August 5, 2024

Suspected hoodlums, on Sunday, chased away #EndBadGovernance protesters from the Freedom Park, Ojota in Lagos.

The protesters were chased away after some of their leaders withdrew following the national broadcast of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who called for dialogue.

It was learnt that while some leaders of the protesters agreed to call off the demonstration on Sunday morning, a few of them remained adamant and decided to continue the protest.

One of the protesters who spoke with our correspondent said, “The hoodlums just came from nowhere after some of our leaders had left and those area boys were brandishing dangerous weapons and we all had to run to different directions.”

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Published On the Biafra post 
June 10, 2024 


*You know I am a leader in the South West and at the National convention, I was elected as the leader of the Yoruba delegation. So, I am central to the Yoruba position. The Yoruba position is my position and it is the same position I canvassed in my book, ‘The way forward for Nigeria’ which I launched since 2005 in Lagos. What we mean by restructuring is going back to the Independence Constitution which our leaders negotiated with the British between 1957 and 1959. It was on that basis that the three regions agreed to go to Independence as one united country. So, it was a negotiated constitution. This is because, if the three regions were not able to agree, there would not have been one united independent Nigeria. But because the three regions at that time negotiated and agreed to package a constitution, that is why they agreed to go to Independence together. When the military came in 1966 and threw away the constitution, they threw away the negotiated agreement among the three regions, which was the foundation of a united Nigeria.*
*So, the military did not only throw away the constitution but a political consensus negotiated and agreed by our leaders of the three regions in those days. When we say restructuring now, we are saying let us go back substantially to that constitution which gave considerable autonomy to the regions. For example, each region at that time collected its revenue and contributed the agreed proportion to the centre. But when the military came, they turned it round and took everything to the centre. That could not have been accepted by Ahmadu Bello, Nnamdi Azikiwe or Obafemi Awolowo.*
*This constitution we are using was made by late Gen Sani Abacha and the military; and Abacha came from only one part of Nigeria, so he wrote a constitution that favoured his own part of Nigeria. That is why I am saying, let us restructure and go back to what all of us agreed before. That is the meaning of restructuring. The regions used to be federating units, but in today’s Nigeria, they would now be called federal regions because states have been created in the regions. So in the West, you now have federation of Yoruba states which would belong to the Nigerian union at the centre. So, it is not like the region of old with all the powers. No. It is now going to be a coordinator of the states in the zone. That is what we mean by restructuring. And the regions would have a considerable autonomy as they used to have. For example, for the younger people, they may not know that every region then had its own constitution.*
*There were four constitutions at independence –the Federal constitution, Western constitution, Eastern constitution and Northern constitution. That was how independent they were and every region had an ambassador in London. The ambassadors for the regions were called Agent General so that you do not confuse them with that of Nigeria then called High Commissioner. So, Nigeria had four ambassadors in London. The ambassador for Nigeria then called a High Commissioner was M.T Mbu. The ambassador for Eastern Nigeria then was Mr Jonah Chinyere Achara, Western Nigeria was Mr Omolodun and for Northern Nigeria, it was Alhaji Abdulmalik. There were four of them. That was the kind of arrangement we agreed to, but the military threw it away and gave us this over-centralised unitary constitution. So, we said this is not acceptable any more; we must go back to the negotiated constitution which gave considerable autonomy to the regions, so that they can compete in a healthy manner. For example, Chief Obafemi Awolowo wanted to introduce free education in the West and other regions said they could not afford it, but he went ahead to introduce it in the Western region. He said he wanted to pay a minimum of five shillings a day, while others were paying two and three shillings. He went ahead and passed the law, making five shillings the minimum wage in Western Nigeria.*
*There was no problem with that. In Western Nigeria, the constitution provided for a House of Assembly and the House of Chiefs. In Eastern Nigeria, there was no House of Chiefs because they did not think they needed one. There was no problem with that and that is the kind of Nigeria we negotiated in London, but that is different from what we have today. So, we are saying let us go back to that arrangement which all of us agreed at independence and not what Abacha imposed on us, which is very partial, unfair and one-sided. That is the meaning of restructuring; it is to restructure unfairness and give semi-autonomy to the federating units.*
*Chief Olu False is a leading Yoruba leader and was Head of the Southwest Delegation to the Jonathan National Constitutional Conference.*

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Published on the Biafra Post 
November 20, 2023


In a video seen by SaharaReporters on Monday, over seven operatives of the Nigerian Police Force attached to the Anambra State Command stormed a community town hall in Nkpor near Onitsha, where crowd gathered to arrest Ezeaku.

The Nigeria Police Force has arrested Mathias Ezeaku, a traditional religion preacher in Anambra State for criticising one Pastor Ebuka Obi who claimed he (Obi) had fasted for 50 days without food.

In a video seen by SaharaReporters on Monday, over seven operatives of the Nigerian Police Force attached to the Anambra State Command stormed a community town hall in Nkpor near Onitsha, where crowd gathered to arrest Ezeaku.




The policemen had also shot one person on the thigh and left him bleeding profusely.

Ezeaku, who operates a traditional worship centre, has been critical of the Christian religion and some pastor who make boastful claims. He has criticised several pastors, referring to them as fake.


The preacher was arrested on Sunday morning by men in police uniforms as he arrived at his worship centre.


A video trending on social media showed Ezeaku resisting arrest, and his members also putting up stiff resistance.

The incident led to sporadic gunshots by the operatives. One of the members of the centre was shot in the thigh.

A message which Ezeaku had posted on his Facebook handle early on Sunday morning, urged his members to join him for worship, and it read: “Don’t forget to join us today as we adore and uplift the name of our ancestors and creator Chukwuokikeabiama.

“Time is 9am at Amafor Town Hall Nkpor opposite New Type Market Enugu Onitsha Expressway.”

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By Isuma Mark On Oct 1, 2023
Published on the Biafra Post 


In a landmark victory delivered in favour of Atiku Abubakar, applicant and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2023 presidential election, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has ruled that all documents the PDP candidate applied for must be released to him.

The court held that all the documents must be released on or before October 2.


The court did not vary the request but made an astonishing ruling compelling the Chicago State University to as a matter of urgency release sought after documents to the PDP candidate.

The Judge Nancy Maldonado, in a copy of the judgement on Sunday, noted that Chicago State University raised no objection to Judge Jeffery Gilbert’s decision that the academic record be made public.

The court noted that Atiku’s interest far outweigh any intrusion on Tinubu’s privacy interests in his educational records.



All Tinubu’s objections to Gilbert’s recommended ruling were overruled while all Atiku’s applications adopted the ruling.




The court held that “For the foregoing reasons, the Court overrules President Tinubu’s objections to Magistrate Judge Gilbert’s recommended ruling and therefore adopts the ruling in full.

“Mr. Abubakar’s Application is therefore granted. In light of the pending Supreme Court of Nigeria deadline, represented to the Court as October 5, 2023, and based on CSU’s representations that it is ready to comply with the discovery requests and produce a witness, the Court sets an expedited schedule for completion of discovery.

“Respondent CSU is directed to produce all relevant and non-privileged documents in
response to Requests for Production Nos. 1 through 4 (as narrowed by Judge Gilbert and adopted here) in Mr. Abubakar’s subpoena, by 12:00 p.m. (noon) CDT, on Monday, October 2, 2023.

“The Rule 30(b)(6) deposition of CSU’s corporate designee must be completed by 5:00 p.m. CDT on
Tuesday, October 3, 2023. Given the October 5, 2023, filing deadline before the Supreme Court
of Nigeria, the Court will not extend or modify these deadlines.

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