Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Ltd on Wednesday pleaded with the U.S. Supreme Court for additional time to file a response to Nigeria’s request for certiorari over a botched trade deal that makes the Chinese investors entitled to $70 million of the African nation’s crude oil earnings with JP Morgan.

Following previous rulings by U.S. lower courts that favoured Zhongshan and ordered Nigeria to surrender tens of millions of its oil revenue to the Chinese, President Bola Tinubu’s government raced to the Supreme Court on November 7, filing a writ of certiorari as a last resort to protect its cash assets.

A writ of certiorari is a petition for the U.S. Supreme Court to examine the rulings of the lower courts and determine if they are to be upheld or reversed.

When asked to support or oppose Nigeria’s request for certiorari, the Chinese investors waived their right to reply in December 2024, stating that they would only file a response if the top court specifically required it.

The Supreme Court, on December 26, 2024, asked Zhongshan to file a reply latest January 27, 2025. 

However, the Chinese investors are begging for an extension of the deadline, pleading that the notice was too short for their lawyers, whose calendars were fully booked and busy working on cases of other clients.

The Chinese investors requested that the deadline be extended by one month to give their lawyers ample time to prepare their response. 

“Respondent respectfully requests a thirty-day extension of time, to and including February 26, 2025, within which to file a brief in response to the petition,” a letter of plea written by Jovana Crncevic representing Zhongshan stated on January 15.

“This extension is requested because the attorneys with the primary responsibility for preparing the response to the petition have other professional obligations and competing deadlines, including for upcoming trials, that would make it difficult to complete the response before the current deadline,” Ms Crncevic explained.

Justices of the top court had agreed to meet on January 10 to discuss the case, but Zhongshan’s request for additional time, if granted, would delay their ruling.

Former Ogun governor Ibikunle Amosun —who caused Nigeria to suffer international embarrassment, fighting to save its assets in a morass of suits across different countries— has maintained an eerie silence on the matter since August when he admitted mistakenly signing away the multi-billion naira Ogun trade zone agreement without thoroughly reviewing its terms.

He claimed that the Chinese investors deceived him.