The National Secretariat of the Association of Senior Civil Servants in Nigeria (ASCSN) has been taken over by Innocent Bola-Audu in Abuja, and he has also assumed the role of President of the Association at the behest of the National Industrial Court.
On April 15, 2026, Justice Rakiya Bosede Haastrup confirmed Bola-Audu as the duly elected ASCSN president and ordered him to assume control of the organization’s national secretariat.
Following a nearly four-year legal struggle, the union head representing officers from Zone 7 of the Nigeria Police Force in Abuja finally executed the verdict on Friday, putting an end to the association’s leadership dispute.
Although some workers loyal to the other camp locked gates against the police and Bola-Audu team in an effort to prevent the court ruling from being enforced, they eventually caved to pressure after realising that they were being subjected to a legitimate court order.
In order to implement the court’s decision, police from the Mabushi Divisional Police Station were instructed to disperse after initially siding with the opposing camp by barring the Zone Seven officials.
The Mabushi policemen had repeatedly refused to open the National Secretariat gate, citing an order from the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in Zone Seven, before being told to leave.
The court-ordered Bola-Audu gang took over the Secretariat after a dramatic showdown between officers from Zone seven, headed by a Superintendent of Police (SP), and the rest of the police force.
After promising to be peaceful and law-abiding in his upcoming duties, the union leader conveyed his joy that the association’s leadership struggle had ultimately been resolved according to the rule of law.
On April 15, the Industrial Court ruled that the defendants in the case must not molestation, disturb, harass, or otherwise impede Bola-Audu as she assumes leadership of the biggest labour union, including its National Secretariat.
Justice Rakiya Bosede Haastrup ruled in the second round of the court struggle that the self-proclaimed ASCSN national president and secretary general, Sheu Mohammed, and Apebo Joshua, respectively, do not have the legal standing or power to support their claims.
Justice Haastrup ruled that the association’s election on August 10, 2024, which re-elected Bola-Audu to a second four-year term, was valid and conducted in accordance with the association’s constitution in the case marked NICK/ ABM/169/2025.
Also, the Court ruled that the Lagos factional election that chose Sheu Mohammed and Apebo Joshua as party leaders was invalid and set aside.
The Court has ruled that the Lagos election was fraudulent and unlawful since it was conducted in wilful disobedience to the ASCSN constitution. Consequently, it lacks legitimacy and cannot withstand legal scrutiny.
One of the defendants in the lawsuit, the Accountant General of the Federation, was directed to release the association members’ cheque off dues to the Bola-Audu leadership.
The ruling upheld Bola-Audu’s ASCSN presidency, which Justice Haastrup cited as having been handed down by Justice Oyewumi Oyebiola (now of the Court of Appeal) on July 9, 2024. The ruling, according to Justice Haastrup, is still in effect and binding on all ASCSN members, as neither Sheu Mohammed nor the Apebo Joshua faction filed an appeal against it.
The court ruled that Bola-Audu’s alleged suspension by the ASCSN’s Central Working Committee and his subsequent expulsion by the National Working Committee were both declared unlawful, illegal, null, and void in the previous ruling.
The court ruled that the suspension was justified because the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Maitama had already dismissed the false accusation upon which it was founded.
On February 22, 2021, Bola-Audu was apprehended and held by NAPTIP, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, on suspicion that he was complicit in the exploitation of vulnerable individuals and human trafficking.
On the other hand, a high court in Abuja discharged and cleared him of the accusation.
She slammed the first and second defendants, Sheu Mohammed and Apebo Joshua, for their actions in defying the judgement, and she said that the people should respect court rulings rather than make fun of them.
The judge fined the two defendants N10 million each for being vengeful, acting in contempt of court, and disobeying the existing court judgement. The fine is to be paid to the claimants.
The claimants will receive an additional N50 million fine from the two defendants as exemplary and aggravated damages, according to Justice Haastrup’s ruling.
Despite the court’s recognition of the defendants’ leadership, it was determined that their conduct were beset with malice when they incited members and other government officials against the claimants through baseless letters and correspondences.
Subsequently, she nullified and rescinded all correspondence between the claimants and the two defendants, including letters sent to private citizens, public authorities, and businesses.
The claimants are the legitimate executives of the association, and the judge has issued a restraining order forbidding the two defendants and their agents from interfering with their work or gaining access to any associated property.
In addition, the claimants’ term of office was prolonged by six months, during which they were barred from accessing the association’s National Secretariat.