The Leadership of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has enjoined its teeming members throughout the country to remain calm because the Court Judgment dated 15th April, 2026 obtained by Innocent Bola Audu in the Association’s name has been appealed and that it has filed notice of appeal against the judgment along with Motion on Notice for Stay of Execution of the judgment in the exercise of our constitutional right of appeal.

 

It also emphasised that by the provisions of the Union’s Constitution Bola-Audu has no legal authority to sack members of the Central Working Committee (CWC) duly elected at the 5th Quadrennial National Delegates’ Conference of the Association held on 12th August 2024 at the Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos and observed by statutory stakeholders such as the Registrar of Trade Unions, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), etc., nor is he or any individual empowered to dismiss the Secretary-General of the Association and other Secretarial staff.

 

In a Press Statement issued in Abuja on Friday, the ASCSN National President, Comrade Shehu Mohammed and the Secretary-General, Comrade Joshua Apebo, recalled that on 9th July 2024, the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN)

 

while delivering Judgment in Suit No. NICN/ABJ/214/2022 held that Innocent Bola-Audu should complete his tenure by 29th July 2024 having been elected National President of the Union on 29th July 2020 and that he should be compensated with N3Million for his legal fees.

 

“All efforts to bring Innocent Bola-Audu to receive his compensation of N3Million as ordered by the Court has been rebuffed by him as he continued to boast to those who care to listen that in Nigeria with his connection, he would be reinstated in spite of the Court Order.

 

“It is, therefore, not surprising that two years after his tenure expired, he had the effrontery to deceive the Court again by claiming that he was re-elected at a purported Delegates’ Conference. This can only be happening in a Country where impunity reigns Supreme.

 

“We note with dismay the purported dismissal and suspension purportedly made by Innocent Bola Audu in his letter dated 15th April, 2026 It must be emphasised that by the provisions of the Union’s Constitution, Bola-Audu or no individual person or officer of the Association has any legal authority to sack members of the Central Working Committee (CWC) duly elected at the 5th Quadrennial National Delegates’ Conference of the Association held on 12th August 2024 at the Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos and observed by statutory stakeholders such as the Registrar of Trade Unions, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), etc., nor is he empowered to dismiss the Secretary-General of the Association and other Secretarial staff,” the Union emphasised.

 

The Union stated that in September 2022, Innocent Bola-Audu sued the Inspector-General of Police and others in the Federal High Court, Lagos, claiming in an Exparte motion, that he should be granted access to the National Secretariat of the Association in Lagos which the Court upheld.

 

 

 

“But when the true facts of the matter were brought before Hon Justice D.E Osiagor of the Federal High Court, Lagos, he was livid with anger that Bola-Audu fabricated lies, misled the court by suing the Inspector-General of Police and others who were not party to the dispute and accordingly set aside his earlier order.

 

Justice Osiagor averred: The court frowns at those who use machinery of Justice for mischievous purposes.”

 

The ASCSN Leaders hereby assure their members that justice shall prevail at the Court of Appeal as truth will always triumph over lies which the true facts of the case and the law have been considered by the Court.

 

“We, therefore, urge our members to be calm and confident that the ASCSN as a democratic organization is not owned by one man to be administered by an emperor,” the Union stated.

 

They recalled that in 2021, Bola-Audu was expelled by the Union after he was arrested by the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and charged to Court for alleged cases of human trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable persons, the court process of which is still ongoing at the Court of Appeal, Abuja.

 

The President of the Association called on all esteemed members of the Association to remain calm and focused on the objectives of the Association and expressed confidence that the Appellate Court will upturn the judgment obtained by Bola-Audu and his cohorts.