Presidential Jets Seizure An International Embarrassment – Obi
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, has described as an international embarrassment a report that three presidential jets in France will be seized by a Chinese company.
Obi said the situation was another embarrassment which exposed failed leadership in Nigeria.
Osun Defender reports that a French court ordered the seizure of the jets following a contract dispute between Ogun State and a Chinese company, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited.
But the Federal Government on Thursday, stated that it has set in motion both legal and diplomatic steps to ensure the discharge of the โinappropriate ordersโ against the jets, which it declared are covered by sovereign immunity.
Obi, in an X post on Thursday, berated the Federal Government and the Ogun State Government, saying that the aircraft seizure has exposed multiple dimensions of the countryโs leadership failure.
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He said, โThe trending international news on the seizure of three Jets belonging to Nigeriaโs Presidential fleet is yet another of many embarrassing things exposing our failed leadership and our attitude to the rule of law even in a democracy. It has also exposed multiple dimensions to our leadership failure and our insensitivity to the plight of the growing poor class in our midst.
โAdded to it is the embarrassing aspect of our countryโs Presidential jets being held for contractual breaches arising from yet another dimension of inadequate leadership tidiness. I have been loud in my demand over time that the government at all levels should be accountable to the people, meaning that they must be very transparent in all their dealings.
โUntil a court in France prohibits Nigeria from moving or selling these three jets, Nigerians have no iota of information about both the buying and selling of these aircraft.
โIt has been done in secrecy. Federal Government property, which belongs to the people, is being managed as a personal family asset.
โHere are questions begging for answers: To what extent did the Ogun government follow its agreement with the Chinese firm? After the UK court ruling that prohibited some Nigeria building in Liverpool, what did both Ogun state and Federal government do before the French court action?
โI would like to, therefore, challenge the federal government to come clean and transparent on this matter and tell Nigerians how we got to this latest international mess.โ
