Former Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun on Saturday said he was deceived into handing over a free trade facility in Ogun State to an investment group from China, introducing a disturbing dimension to the ongoing legal battle that threatens the depletion of Nigeria’s assets abroad.
Mr Amosun, governor of the southwestern Nigerian state from 2011 to 2019, admitted in a statement personally signed by him that he didn’t do even a cursory assessment of facts before asking a Chinese team to take over the Ogun-Guandong Free Trade Zone in 2012.
His decision marked the onset of a protracted legal crisis that led to aggrieved Chinese investors’ recent targeting of Nigeria’s assets in Europe and the United States.
The free trade zone was conceived in 2007 between Ogun State under Governor Gbenga Daniel and Guangdong Xinguang International China Africa Investment Ltd (or China Africa) to facility seamless trade between Nigeria and China in Igbesa, Ogun State.
