Justice D. E. Osiagor of the Lagos High Court has ordered Bola Audu Innocent and his cohorts to immediately vacate the National Secretariat of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) in Lagos or face the wrath of the law.
In a judgment handed down on Wednesday 26 October 2022, Justice Osiagor ruled that it is an abuse of court process for Bola-Audu and his fellow travellers to bring a trade union matter already being handled by the National Industrial Court (NIC) in Abuja to his court.
He accordingly vacated and discharged his earlier order which allowed Bola Audu entry to the Secretariat.
The Judge also lifted the embargo placed on the bank accounts of the Association and restored Comrade Tommy Etim Okon and Comrade Alade Bashir Lawal, the National President and the Secretary-General of the Union respectively as the authentic and legal signatories to the bank accounts of the Association.
Osiagor held that since the matter before him is an intra-union dispute, he has no jurisdiction to enter trial moreso because the Applicant himself has taken his case to the NIC in Abuja where he is praying the court to compel appropriate organs of the Union to revoke his suspension, expulsion and reinstate him as the National President of the Association.
The Judge further described the case brought before him by Bola Audu as forum shopping and abuse of court processes. He accordingly dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction.
