Tinubu embarks on official visit to China

President Bola Tinubu has departed Abuja for a working visit to China.

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

He said President Tinubu would have a stopover at the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“President Bola Tinubu will depart Abuja for Beijing, China, on Thursday, August 29, on an official visit. President Tinubu will have a brief layover in the United Arab Emirates,” the statement read.

“In China, the President will meet with President Xi Jinping and will hold meetings with Chinese business leaders on the sidelines of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.”

Accompanying the President on the Chinese trip are senior government officials.

Tinubu’s trip comes amid a flurry of seizures of Nigerian assets by a Chinese firm, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited.

A French court recently ruled in favour of the firm and granted the seizure of presidential jets belonging to the Nigerian government.

In the dispute involving an arbitration award, the court in Paris ruled in favour of the Chinese firm, allowing it to seize three presidential jets on routine maintenance in France as “security” for claims in a decades-long judicial matter between the foreign company and the Ogun State government.