The leadership of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has urged its members nationwide to remain calm following a court judgment dated April 15, 2026, obtained by Innocent Bola Audu in the union’s name.
In a press statement issued in Abuja on Friday, ASCSN National President Comrade Shehu Mohammed and Secretary-General Comrade Joshua Apebo said the union had promptly filed a notice of appeal against the judgment, along with a motion for stay of execution, in exercise of its constitutional right.
The leaders stressed that, under the provisions of the ASCSN Constitution, Innocent Bola Audu has no legal authority to sack members of the Central Working Committee (CWC) duly elected at the 5th Quadrennial National Delegates’ Conference held on August 12, 2024, at the Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos. The conference was observed by statutory stakeholders, including the Registrar of Trade Unions and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC). He is also not empowered to dismiss the Secretary-General or any other secretarial staff.
The statement recalled that on July 9, 2024, the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), in Suit No. NICN/ABJ/214/2022, ruled that Innocent Bola Audu’s tenure as National President — to which he was elected on July 29, 2020 — ended on July 29, 2024. The court ordered that he be paid N3 million as compensation for legal fees.
“Despite repeated efforts by the union to pay him the N3 million compensation as ordered by the court, he rebuffed all attempts and continued to boast that, through his connections, he would be reinstated despite the court order,” the statement said.
The leaders expressed dismay at Bola Audu’s latest actions, describing them as another attempt to mislead the court by claiming he was re-elected at a purported delegates’ conference two years after his tenure had expired.
“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,” the statement added.
The union also referenced a 2022 incident in which Innocent Bola Audu had sued the Inspector-General of Police and others at the Federal High Court in Lagos, seeking access to the national secretariat via an ex-parte motion. The court initially granted the order, but later set it aside when the true facts emerged.
Hon. Justice D. E. Osiagor, who delivered the ruling, was reported to have expressed strong displeasure, stating that the court “frowns at those who use the machinery of justice for mischievous purposes.”
The ASCSN leadership assured members that justice would prevail at the Court of Appeal, where the true facts of the case and the applicable law would be properly considered.
“We therefore urge our members to be calm and confident that the ASCSN, as a democratic organisation, is not owned by one man to be administered by an emperor,” the statement concluded.
The leaders also recalled that in 2021, Innocent Bola Audu was expelled by the union after he was arrested by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and charged with alleged human trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable persons — a case that is still pending at the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
The ASCSN President called on all members to remain focused on the objectives of the association, expressing confidence that the appellate court would overturn the judgment obtained by Bola Audu and his cohorts.