The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria has said that Dr Etim Okon remains the national president of the association despite claims on social media by an expelled former president of the union, Innocent Bola-Audu to be the president.
ASCSN, in a statement signed by its Secretary-General, Joshua Apebo, on Wednesday, said Okon will lead the union to the next national delegates conference where a new national president will emerge.
The reports that Bola-Audu and three others were on Tuesday discharged and acquitted by Justice Charles Agbaza, of human trafficking charges.
In 2021, Bola-Audu and three others were arraigned in a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Maitama, Abuja, by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons for human trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable persons and thereafter expelled for anti-union activities.
It posited that if the court cleared Bola Audu of the criminal case he was facing with three others, it had nothing to do with the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria.
“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 in Abuja to challenge his expulsion.
“It is therefore surprising that Bola-Audu Innocent is now claiming in 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.
“We, therefore, urge our teeming members throughout the country and the general public to discountenance the misinformation and disinformation in the social media where an expelled member of the Union, one Bola-Audu Innocent is claiming to be the National President of the Association,” he stressed.
According to him, if Nigeria were a sane clime, Bola-Audu would certainly have been charged with contempt of court but with the culture of impunity reigning supreme in the country, he is still moving about freely.
The ASCSN urged its members to stay calm underscoring that they know who their national president is and Bola-Audu remains expelled.
