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Court Grants Chinese Investor Right to Confiscate Two Nigerian Govt Property in UK
Two Nigerian properties located in the United Kingdom are on the verge of being taken over by a Chinese investor following an order granting the investor the right to enforce a $70 million investment treaty award against Nigeria.
The investor – Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment – was granted final charging orders over two UK residential properties owned by the Nigerian government after the company also attached a £20 million debt relating to the high-profile P&ID case.
Reports said the Chinese firm secured the order on June 14 when Master Sullivan in the Commercial Court in London granted the orders in respect of two Liverpool properties estimated to be worth a combined £1.7 million.
According to the judge, the order was premised on the fact that the properties have been converted to commercial use outside Nigeria’s diplomatic or consular activities in the UK, stressing that enforcement of the order should prevail.
The case was a gritty legal battle between Zhongshan, represented before the court by Withers and barristers at 3VB, while Nigeria was represented by Squire Patton Boggs and a barrister at Atkin Chambers.
Reports said the underlying arbitration was in relation to a joint venture with Nigeria’s Ogun State to establish a free trade zone near Lagos in 2013. A Zhongshan subsidiary held a 60% stake in the project but Ogun terminated its participation three years later.
In 2021, a London-seated UNCITRAL tribunal chaired by Lord Neuberger including Matthew Gearing KC and Rotimi Oguneso (SAN) said Nigeria was guilty of expropriation and other breaches of the China-Nigeria bilateral investment treaty and ordered the country to to pay US$55.6 million plus interest and costs.
Nigeria in the same year put a challenge against the award in the Commercial Court on jurisdictional grounds. Nigeria’s position was that the arbitration clause in the BIT was invalid. But in later development, Nigeria withdrew the challenge before a hearing on Zhongshan’s application for security and security for costs was about to take place.
Mrs. Justice Cockerill in the same court granted Zhongshan an ex parte enforcement order in December 2021, but Nigeria did not file against this order within the 74-day deadline allowed by the law.
In July 2023, the Court of Appeal in London stopped Nigeria from bringing a late challenge to the enforcement order, stressing Cockerill’s provisional determination that state immunity did not apply had become final.
The investor reportedly got interim charging orders in June and August last year over the two properties in Liverpool, which are owned by the Nigerian government.
Nigeria’s efforts to dismiss these charging orders failed as Master Sullivan in her judgment, held that the properties are leased to residential tenants and that no “consular activities are actually taking place on the premises”.
She also dismissed Nigeria’s arguments that it had not been properly served with the interim charging order applications under the State Immunity Act and that Zhongshan had failed to give full and frank disclosure when seeking them.
Master Sullivan also dismissed Nigeria’s objection about parties bringing multiple enforcement action, saying that parties are “entitled to bring as many types of enforcement action as they see fit to recover their debt.” She noted that Nigeria had yet to pay any of the award and that the value of the properties represented a “small proportion of it”.
Timi Balogun of Squire Patton Boggs, counsel to Nigeria, said: “We respectfully disagree with the Master’s decision, which we believe somewhat brushes over complex public international law issues, including with respect to state immunity and the right of a foreign state’s High Commission to own and manage portfolios of fixed assets in England and Wales. We believe that such issues need to be weighed very carefully, and we intend to appeal this decision so that these complex and important issues can be considered by the higher courts.”
Zhongshan applied to enforce the award in Washington, DC in 2022. Last year, the DC district court rejected Nigeria’s motion to dismiss the action on sovereign immunity grounds. The state argued the China-Nigeria BIT was “quintessentially sovereign” and therefore the award did not arise from a commercial relationship between the parties. The DC district proceeding is stayed pending Nigeria’s appeal of the sovereign immunity decision.
Zhongshan has also taken enforcement measures in various other jurisdictions, including in Quebec, where it seeks conservatory seizure of a private jet; and in Belgium, where Nigeria is challenging attachments of properties.
In the British Virgin Islands, Zhongshan has obtained an interim attachment over a £20 million liability owed Nigeria by BVI-registered company Process & Industrial Development (P&ID) under an English Commercial Court ruling. The Chinese company withdrew an earlier application to attach the same liability in England.
The Commercial Court ordered P&ID to pay Nigeria £20 million in costs in December last year after upholding the state’s challenge to an US$11 billion award in favour of the company. Mr Justice Robin Knowles found the award was procured through false evidence, corrupt payments and improper retention of leaked documents.
Former Niger Delta militant leader, Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, has accused President Bola Tinubu, of betraying him after helping him (Tinubu) to emerge president in the 2023 elections.
Dokubo made the accusation in a viral video shared on social media on Saturday, lamenting how he emptied his bank accounts to canvas votes for Tinubu during the 2023 presidential election, only for the latter to abandon him and his Ijaw people.
The former warlord, however, vowed to form an alliance with the North ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“I apologise to our fathers because they were not wrong in allying with the North, and as young men, we will now start that same alliance,” he said in the video.
“From today, I will work and form an alliance with the North. President Tinubu betrayed me after I spent all my money and emptied my bank account campaigning for him.
“The Tinubu I know now isn’t the Tinubu I used to know. We will take this message across that only the Northerners can work with the Ijaw people.
“We can’t work with Yoruba people; they are a betrayal to us. We risked our lives by voting and doing everything, and this is what we get?”
“From today, I will work and form an alliance with the North. President Tinubu betrayed me after I spent all my money and emptied my bank account campaigning for him,” he insisted.
He also lamented the scrapping of the Niger Delta ministry in a recent cabinet reshuffle by the president, and the formation of a ministry of regional affairs under which the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDc) will come.
He said the ploy is to render the NDDC ineffective which using the resources from the Niger Delta region to fund other development commission.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has awarded three points, and three goals to Nigeria for the missed Libya game.
The development comes after the CAF president, Patrice Motsepe, said a thorough probe was ongoing following the recent controversy surrounding Nigeria’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Libya.
Motsepe had maintained that the continental body would not tolerate any lack of sportsmanship and unfair treatment in African football.
However, in the latest development on Saturday, a statement signed by CAF’s Chairperson of CAF Disciplinary Board, Ousmane Kane said the decision to award Nigeria the points was taken after findings by the disciplinary committee it set up to look into the matter, found Libya guilty of the inhumane treatment meted out to the Nigerian senior men’s football team.
The 5-man disciplinary committee consist of; Mr. Ousmane Kane (Senegal) Chairperson, Ms. Njeri Onyango (Kenya) Vice-Chairperson, Mr. Felix Golbassia (Tchad) Member, Mr. Patrick Shale (Lesotho) Member, and Mr. Norman Arendse (South Africa) Member.
CAF said the disciplinary board decided that; “The Libya Football Federation is found to have breached Article 31 of the African, Cup of Nations Regulations as well as Articles 82 and 151 of the CAF Disciplinary Code, and that the match No.87 Libya v. Nigeria of the CAF African Cup of Nations Qualifiers 2025 (scheduled to be played on 15 October 2024 in Benghazi) is declared lost by forfeit by Libya (by a score of 3-0).”
Following the conclusion of the board’s findings, CAF also ordered the Libya Football Federation to pay a fine of USD 50,000 within 60 days of notification of the present decision.
The players and officials were stranded for hours at a Libyan airport and denied access to food and the internet as they prepared to honour their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier with the Mediterranean Knights.
It took diplomatic efforts and social media callouts for the team to be cleared to finally leave Libya.
With the CAF decision, Nigeria is now poised to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, with two matches to spare.
The Eagles are now on 10 points from four matches, four points better than second-placed Benin Republic, while Rwanda have five points. Bottom-placed Libya have only one point and are out of the running for qualification.
Victory or draw against the Cheetahs of Benin Republic in Abidjan on Thursday, 14th November (a Matchday 5 encounter) will land the Super Eagles a ticket to the finals in Morocco, December 2025/January 2026.
President Bola Tinubu has dismissed five ministers from his cabinet and appointed seven new ones as part of a cabinet reshuffle.
The President re-assigned 10 ministers to new portfolios and nominated seven new ministers for Senate confirmation.
He dismissed Uju-Ken Ohanenye as Minister of Women Affairs, Lola Ade-John as Minister of Tourism, Tahir Mamman as Minister of Education, Abdullahi Gwarzo as Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development, and Jamila Ibrahim as Minister of Youth Development.
Among the nominees, Tinubu selected Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Nentawe Yilwatda as Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, marking the official end of suspended Betta Edu’s tenure.
Other nominees include Maigari Dingyadi for Minister of Labour and Employment, Jumoke Oduwole for Minister of Industry, Idi Maiha for the newly established Ministry of Livestock Development, Yusuf Ata for Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development, and Suwaiba Ahmad for Minister of State for Education.
“The appointment of Shehu Dikko as Chairman of the National Sports Commission.
“The appointment of Sunday Akin Dare as Special Adviser to the President on Public Communication and Orientation working from the Ministry of Information and National Orientation,” the President said.
The President appreciated the outgoing members of the Federal Executive Council for their service to the nation while wishing them the best in their future endeavours.
He then charged the newly appointed ministers and their reassigned colleagues to see their appointment as a call to serve the nation.
Source: Nairametrics
