We have read various media accounts of the above in both print and social media. We have also read and aligned with the very appropriate responses from Ogun State and the Federal Government.
At different levels, Government is a continuum and the various segments of events leading to this unfortunate situation occurred before, during and after our administration. Our administration assumed office on 29 May, 2011.
Very shortly after we took office, two different sets of Chinese companies, Messrs China Africa Investment FXE and Zhongfu International Investment FXE laid claims to Management rights over the Ogun Guangdong Free Trade Zone (OGFTZ).
The business dispute and rivalry between Chinese concerns soon became fierce, grounded seamless business activities, and threatened public peace and safety within the Zone and neighbuoring communities. There were claims and counter claims as to who between the two was the lawful representative of the original joint venturer, Guangdong Province, China and consequentially, who had the right to manage the Zone.
Zhongfu International Investment FXE, pretending to be a concerned and genuine tenant and Zone stakeholder volunteered very damaging and destructive information about the official representatives of Guangdong Province, the Joint Venturer and lawful Zone Managers, China Africa Investment FXE and subsequently requested to be appointed as Interim Zone Managers.Based on the information at the government’s disposal, Zhongfu International Investment FXE was appointed interim zone manager on March 15, 2012, pending further evaluation.
The idea was to ensure that someone was in charge and thereby prevent unwholesome and untoward development in the Zone pending the completion of our fact-finding exercise.It was later discovered that the information and claims volunteered by Zhongfu International Investment FXE against China Africa Investment FXE were tissues of lies.
Unknown to Ogun government at the time, Zhongfu International Investment FXE merely sought to de-market China Africa Investment FXE and to surreptitiously covet the State-owned assets of Guangdong Province in China together with the Zone ownership and management rights of their business rival.It was further discovered – much later – through the intervention of the Chinese Government via Diplomatic Note 1601, dated 11 March, 2016.The Government of the Peoples Republic of China, via its Diplomatic Note 1601 dated 11 March 2016, clarified to the Ogun State Government that China Africa Investment FXE was the rightful investor.
After consulting with the relevant government organs, we followed the Chinese government’s request. We do recall, that Zhongfu International Investment FXE approached Nigerian courts in different jurisdictions to ventilate its legal and business rights. They lost all their four cases in court. We also consulted with and took advice from the State Security Services and the supervising Agency, NEPZA, on the best way to proceed. Accordingly, we served Zhongfu International Investment FXE with formal Termination Notice dated 27 May, 2016.
For the completeness of records, we would like to mention that Zhongfu International Investment FXE went to court. The proceedings in Suit Nos HCT/417/2016: Zhongfu International Investment FXE Vs OGFTZ and FCT/ABJ/CS/601/2016: Zhongfu International Investment FXE Vs NEPZA & Ors will help to shed light on this business dispute between two Chinese entities, Zhongfu and China Africa.
