PRESS RELEASE
ASCSN DISOWNS PLANNED PROTEST BY IMPOSTORS IN DELTA STATE
The Delta State Branch of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) wishes to dissociate itself from a planned protest by some impostors as a means of arm-twisting and blackmailing the Delta State Government against compliance with a judgment of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), Abuja, which was delivered on 15th April, 2026.
The said judgment resolved the leadership dispute between Comrade Innocent Bola-Audu and one Comrade Shehu Mohammed.
The NICN nullified and voided the purported election of Comrade Shehu Mohammed on 12th August, 2024 and upheld Comrade Innocent Bola-Audu, who was elected on 10th August, 2024 , as the authentic National President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria .
The court, also, imposed a fine of N70million against Comrade Shehu Mohammed and his self-styled Secretary General, Comrade Joshua Apebo , for the damages committed against Comrade Innocent Bola-Audu.
As at today, there is no proof of a valid appeal filed anywhere challenging the NICN judgment, even though Comrade Shehu Mohammed and his cohorts keep bandying the false claim of an existing appeal about. In any case , in a few days time, the ninety days period legally allowed for appeals to be filed will elapse.
It was the sacked Comrade Shehu Mohammed who came to Delta State on 10th November, 2025 and arbitrarily constituted an illegal Branch Executive Committee headed by one Comrade Henry Adim Okafor.
That action was tantamount to building something on nothing, no legal foundation, because ,in the eyes of the NICN judgment and the law, the National Leadership of Comrade Shehu Mohammed and the Delta State Leadership of Comrade Henry Adim Okafor do not exist, ab initio.
Accordingly, the authentic National Central Working Committee (CWC) of the ASCSN, led by Comrade Innocent Bola-Audu, formally dissolved the illegal Delta State Branch Executive Committee headed by Comrade Henry Adim Okafor and replaced it with a Caretaker Committee headed by Comrade Preye Dietake, a substantive Deputy Director, SGL16, who has twenty two years experience in trade union activism within the ASCSN where she has held the positions of Unit Treasurer, Unit Secretary and Unit Chairman in various Ministries and extra-Ministerial Departments in the past.
The Caretaker Committee is mandated to run the affairs of the ASCSN and prepare the ground for a formal election within one year.
In view of the above, it is malicious, misleading and self-serving for anyone to claim that the Caretaker Committee was constituted by Comrade Samuel Dietake, a former State Chairman of the Association, to appoint his own wife, Comrade Preye Dietake, as the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee, as if Comrade Preye Dietake, a longstanding activist, has no life of her own. Anyway, the Caretaker Committee was constituted by the Central Working Committee led by Comrade Innocent Bola-Audu, the National President, in line with Rule 16(i )(v) of the constitution of the Association.
Comrade Samuel Dietake left office after handing over to Comrade Lawson Efenudu in the year 2012, fourteen years ago. It is on record that, since then, he has never stepped foot into that office again.
Also, his successor, Comrade Lawson Efenudu, was never made to consult him on any matter and his successor never did.
On the contrary, since Comrade Lawson Efenudu handed over to Comrade Martin Bolum in 2020 and till today, he has transformed himself into an overlord that dictates the tune in the Association. Leadership meetings of the Association are held in his own office at the Bureau of State Pensions, where he is the Executive Secretary. That is why he has taken this matter as a personal fight.
The ASCSN frowns at the evil plan instigated by two former State Branch Chairmen of the Association, Comrade Lawson Efenudu and Comrade Martin Bolum and the Chairman of the recently dissolved State Branch Executive Committee, Comrade Henry Adim Okafor to mobilise their followers to embark on a protest/rampage with a view to preventing the Delta State Government from complying with the NICN judgment and recognising the legally constituted State Branch Caretaker Committee. Any misguided member of the Association who decides to heed to the illegal call to embark on a protest or rampage does so at his own risk because he will not be protected by the ASCSN or the Trade Disputes Act.
He will be open to disciplinary action by the Civil Service Commission, in line with the Public Service Rules and for anti-union behaviour by the ASCSN.
While the Caretaker Committee requests the State Government to call Comrades Lawson Efenudu, Martin Bolum and Henry Adim Okafor to order, the Committee pledges its unalloyed loyalty to the State Government in reciprocation for her constant goodwill and labour-friendly disposition.
Comrade Hilary A. Dafiaghor
State Secretary
