Association of civil servants disowns Bola-Audu

The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has denied Mr Innocent Bola-Audu, saying that Mr Tommy Okon remains its National President.

“Okon still remains our President until a new president emerges at the union’s next national delegate conference,” the union said in a statement issued in Lagos and signed by its Secretary-General, Mr Joshua Apebo.

The association called on its members to discountenance any reports claiming that Bola-Audu was its National President.

“As far as we are concerned, Bola-Audu was expelled by organs of the association for anti-union activities, and he filed a suit at the National Industrial Court (NIC) in Abuja to challenge his expulsion.

“It is, therefore, surprising that he is now claiming in the social media to be the national president of the association when the matter he instituted at the NIC is being adjudicated upon by a court of competent jurisdiction,” ASCSN said.

The union noted that in 2021, Bola-Audu and three others were arraigned before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons for alleged human trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable persons.

“If the FCT High Court ruled that Bola-Audu has no case to answer in the criminal case, that has nothing to do with the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria,’’ the union said.

Bola-Audu did not respond to SMS and WhatsApp messages sent to him by NAN to react to the development.

Supreme reports that Justice Charles Agbaza of a High Court of the FCT sitting in Maitama, Abuja, on Tuesday set free Bola-Audu and three others from the human trafficking charges.

Agbaza discharged and acquitted the defendants on grounds that prosecution failed to link them with the alleged offences.