The National Industrial Court(NIC) sitting in Abuja has reinstated Comrade Innocent Bola-Audu as authentic President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants in Nigeria (ASCSN).
The verdict was delivered by Justice Oyewumi Oyejoju in a virtual proceedings monitored by Nairametrics on Sunday.
ASCSN is a trade union representing staff in the Nigerian Civil Service.
Claimant’s case
Bola-Audu’s legal team sued ASCSN, Bashir Alade Lawal, and Tommy Etim-Okon (1st to 3rd respondents), seeking a declaration that the emergency meeting of its Central Working Committee in March 2021, which purportedly reached a decision that he should step aside over criminal allegations filed against him by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), be nullified so he can be reinstated.
NAPTIP had arrested and arraigned Bola-Audu over alleged human trafficking offenses, but he was eventually discharged by an FCT High Court.
Despite his acquittal, the association members who removed him refused to reinstate him as president.
The claimant then approached the NIC for redress, seeking orders mandating the ASCSN and its agents to ensure that he completes his tenure of four years without any interruption, among others.
But the defendants’ legal team urged the court to decline jurisdiction on the matter.
They also argued that the matter is an abuse of court process as there is an appeal against the judgment of the FCT High Court.
What the judge said
Passing her verdict on the case, the judge observed that an FCT High Court had on 15th March 2021 ordered that parties should maintain the status quo in a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by the claimant, but the defendants disobeyed the directive.
She also observed that the ASCSN should have reinstated the claimant since the basis for his removal had been struck out by a competent court.
On the defendants’ argument about a pending appeal, Justice Oyejoju said the submission was not tenable because they did not comply with the subsisting order of a trial court.
“Disobedience to court orders cannot be settled through arbitration.”
“An order of court is made to be obeyed whether rightly or wrongly made,” the judge held.
“The National Industrial Court by virtue of section 6 and 254C(1)(J) of the constitution has exclusive jurisdiction to entertain trade disputes,” she said.
She subsequently reinstated Mr. Bola-Audu back as substantive National President of the ASCSN until his tenure is completed.
She also ordered the defendants to pay a fine of N3 million to the claimant.
The NIC has jurisdiction over all trade, union, and workplace matters.