Presidency announces Tinubu’s trip to France days after Chinese firm leaked it

President Bola Tinubu will, on Monday, travel to France for a “brief work stay”.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.

He said Tinubu would return to the country after his stay in the European nation.

“President Bola Tinubu will embark on a trip to France on Monday, August 19, departing from Abuja, the nation’s capital. The President will return to the country after his brief work stay in France,” the terse statement read.

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However, he did not state the reason for the visit.

Ngelale’s announcement comes after Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited, the Chinese firm which dragged Nigeria to international courts, over alleged breach of agreement, announced the release of one of the three Presidential jets seized based on the order of a French court.

Daily Trust had reported how the firm seized a Dassault Falcon 7X, a Boeing 737-7N6/BBJ and an Airbus A330-243 belonging to the federal government of Nigeria, stationed at Paris-Le Bourget and Basel-Mulhouse airports.

This is as a result of a contract was revoked by the Ogun state government in 2016.

But according to a company spokesperson on Friday, one of the jets was released after they were made aware that President Bola Tinubu would be needing it for a scheduled meeting with France’s president, Emmanuel Macron.

In a statement, he said, “Zhongshan has consistently sought to act reasonably and fairly in the course of a legal dispute with Nigeria which was not of its making.

“It has now been made aware that an Airbus A330, currently detained in France as a result of a French court order obtained by Zhongshan, is needed for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to travel to a scheduled meeting with President Macron of France early next week.

“As a gesture of goodwill, Zhongshan has lifted the seizure of that aircraft immediately. This will allow it to be used for the President’s trip.”

This is Tinubu’s second overseas trip in a week. Two days ago, the Nigerian leader returned to Abuja after a three-day official visit to Equatorial Guinea.