ASCSN frowns at invasion of Lagos office by suspected hoodlums

From Abel Leonard, Lafia    

The state leadership and members of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Nasarawa State chapter, has frowned at the recent invasion of the association’s National Secretariat in Lagos by suspected hoodlums, who were expelled on Monday, August 22, 2022.

Bola Audu Innocent, who is facing charges and prosecution by the authorities of National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP), over his alleged involvement in cases around human trafficking, consequent upon which he was suspended by the union and subsequently expelled, had challenged his suspension in court.

However, the Nasarawa State Chairman, ASCSN, Haruna Ewa, in a press release, yesterday, accused Innocent of “resorting to thuggery and extra-judicial means to return to power”, instead of exhausting the court processes he initiated over his suspension.

“If Bola Audu believes in deploying violence and diabolic methods as a strategy to lead the association, we wonder if any senior civil servant will embrace his gangsterism and brigandage as tools for trade union practices in the 21st century.

“We wish to state and urge the police to, as a matter of urgency, be on notice that should anything happen to any officer and staff of the Union in Lagos, Abuja or any of the 36 state offices of the union, Bola Audu Innocent should be held responsible.

“We accordingly advice Bola Audu and his gang to steer clear of the national secretariat of the association in Lagos and Abuja, as well as all the 36 state offices of the union across the country, so that the national leadership of the union could continue for pursue the welfare of its teeming members throughout the country, as it has been doing over the last four decades,” the statement read.

Ewa said the leadership and members of the association in Nasarawa State passed a vote of confidence on the National President of the association, Tommy Etim Okon, and the Secretary General, Alade Bashir Lawal.

 He urged them to remain resolute and continue to defend the union.