Prince Adewole Adebayo, the Social Democratic Party’s presidential candidate for 2023, has downplayed the judgement seizing the presidential jets by a Chinese business, calling it a “temporary setback” that will be overturned at the next court.
Adebayo emphasised that no state entity can bind a sovereign nation’s assets, money, or property to a contract. He ascribed the problem on the Chinese enterprise and the Ogun State Government, which were supposed to be partners but became adversaries and engaged in litigation.
“Sometimes, these businesses outlive the tenure of the incumbent governor, and the successor might not understand the seriousness and decide to terminate the contract,” Adebayo told the newspaper.
He went on to explain that when governments engage investors and sign contracts on a global scale, they are signing not only business contracts but also treaties. If a dispute emerges, the investor may seek redress in a regular court, arbitration, or state treaty arbitration.
“In this case, as a Nigerian doing business in China, there is an agreement internationally that Nigeria and China are signatories to, where they say if our citizen is doing business in the other country, they can do arbitration through the mechanism of the treaty,” says Adebayo.
Adebayo emphasized that the dispute is not originally a federal government obligation but an obligation of Ogun State. However, under public international law, subdivisions, subsidiaries, and sub-nationals are not recognized internationally.
He clarified that it was not a loan but a business between the Ogun State Government and the Chinese private firm that went to arbitration. Adebayo also noted that the interim attachment of the presidential jets does not mean they have been lost, as assets used for diplomacy and monies kept in the central bank are immune under international law.
“I believe that as the law stands, once Nigeria appears there and can demonstrate, especially with the assistance of the foreign ministry of the French government, that these are diplomatic assets, the court will lift the seizure,” Adebayo concluded.