Justice Rakiya Haastrup of the National Industrial Court (NIC) in Abuja has affirmed Innocent Bola-Audu as the legally elected President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), bringing to a close a leadership dispute that lasted more than four years.
The court also ordered that Bola-Audu be allowed to assume leadership of the union, including access to its National Secretariat, without molestation, disruption, or harassment by the defendants.
Delivering judgment, Justice Haastrup held that Shehu Mohammed and Apebo Joshua, who had been presenting themselves as National President and Secretary General of the ASCSN, lacked legal authority for their actions.
The court upheld the August 10, 2024 election that returned Bola-Audu for a second four-year term, ruling that the exercise was conducted in line with the association’s constitution.
In the same judgment, the court nullified and set aside a separate election held in Lagos, which produced Mohammed and Joshua as factional leaders.
The Accountant-General of the Federation, who was joined as a defendant in the suit, was directed to release check-off dues of union members to the Bola-Audu-led leadership.
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Justice Haastrup held that the Lagos election was conducted in violation of the ASCSN constitution and described it as a product of illegality that could not stand.
The judge also referenced an earlier judgment delivered on July 9, 2024, by Justice Oyewumi Oyebiola—now of the Court of Appeal—which had upheld Bola-Audu’s presidency. She noted that the judgment remains valid and binding, as it was not appealed by Mohammed and Joshua.
The court further held that the earlier suspension of Bola-Audu by the Central Working Committee, and his subsequent expulsion by the National Working Committee, had already been declared unlawful, null, and void in the previous judgment.
According to the court, the suspension was based on allegations that had earlier been quashed by a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting in Maitama.
Justice Haastrup imposed a fine of ₦10 million each on the two defendants, to be paid to the claimants, citing their conduct as vindictive, contemptuous of court, and in defiance of an existing judgment.
The court also awarded ₦50 million against the defendants as exemplary and aggravated damages.
It held that their actions—including writing letters to individuals, government officials, and institutions against the claimants despite a subsisting court judgment—were malicious.
Consequently, the court voided all such correspondences issued by the defendants.
The judge also issued a restraining order preventing the defendants and their agents from interfering with the claimants’ duties as the recognised officers of the association or from accessing its properties.
In addition, the court extended the tenure of the claimants by six months to compensate for the period during which they were denied access to the National Secretariat.
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