Former Ogun State governor, Gbenga Daniel, has promised to support the Nigerian government in the ongoing legal dispute with a Chinese company, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Limited, that led to the seizure of some presidential jets.
Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment had dragged the Nigerian government to court over a failed contract initiated in 2007 by the Ogun State government.
The legal battle led to the seizure of three presidential jets undergoing routine maintenance in France. But one of the jets was later released to the Nigerian government.
The contract was signed in 2007, during Daniel’s tenure.
A statement by the media office of Daniel read partly: “It is also important to note that this is a very sensitive matter involving our collective national assets and Commonwealth, which every patriotic Nigerian should feel concerned about.
“And as a patriotic elder statesman who has had the privilege of serving Ogun State as the Governor, through which he was able to bring about several developmental projects, including the establishment of the Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone and others, and through which he has impacted the lives of many citizens, also as a serving senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, it is this patriotic path he chooses to thread.”
The statement read further: “Senator Otunba Gbenga Daniel would rather engage in helping Nigeria, through the President and Commander-in-Chief, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to find a diplomatic solution to the issue at hand with available records that could assist the Federal Government in pursuing its course at the arbitration and before the courts.”
