By Wuraola OyedokunÂ
A former Chairman of Trade Union Congress, Oyo State, Comrade Andrew Emelieze, has called on Transparency International, International Labour Organisation (ILO), and all anti-corruption agencies to intervene in the alleged corruption in the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN).
Emelieze, who is a former Chairman of ASCSN in Oyo State, made the call in a copy of letter made available to journalists in Ibadan.
According to the labour leader, the copies of the letter were sent to the United Nations,
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Justice of the Federation,the National Assembly,
Minister of Justice, the Federal Ministry of Labour, National Judicial Council(NJC), Nigeria Bar Association ( NBA) and the mass media.
He appealed to them to take decisive steps on the matter.
 Emelieze said: “This is a letter for the immediate interventions of Transparency International, the International Labour Organisation ILO and all other anti corruption agencies locally and globally, to prevail on the Nigerian government and her anti graft agencies investigating the monumental corruption case in ASCSN to make public their findings and go ahead with the prosecution of the offenders.
“The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) is a foremost industrial union affiliated to the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) ,it is registered by the Federal Ministry of Labour to unionise senior workers from levels 7 to 17 in the public service of Nigeria at the federal and state governments and with membership of over five hundred thousand workers.
“For sometime now the workers’ union have been engulfed in massive corruption and the privatisation of the union as against the constitution of the union. Some whistle blowers in the union have been raising alarm and calling on the attention of relevant anti corruption agencies in Nigeria to investigate the ongoing corruption in the union. Agencies like the Nigerian Police, The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC),the Department of State Security (DSS) and many others have been contacted and the mass media is also carried along”.
The unionist said the National President of the union has admitted that the union had been under probe by the Nigerian Police and other agencies.
He stated further: “At around twenty five employees of the union have been sacked by the then Secretary General of the union Mr Alade Bashir Lawal for collaborating to leak out sensitive information to whistle blowers on the misappropriation and diversion of union’s funds. This sacked employees are yet to be properly paid their severance benefits.
“Discoveries have been made and all well documented in the case files of the concerned agencies. Arrest were made, international passports of suspects were seized, accounts of suspects were also frozen including that of the former Secretary General of the union Mr Alade Bashir Lawal, precisely, five hundred million naira (₦500,000,000) was frozen in his account in a well known financial institution in Nigeria, Meristem Securities Limited by the EFCC.
“Currently, the Nigerian Police Force through a very senior officer, DIG Alabi Abiodun, the ACTU Unit X-Squad Force Criminal Investigation Department in Abuja is carrying out a probe of the industrial union and so far a clinical job has been done. More and more discoveries have been made, confessionary statements has been documented, accounts frozen and tens of billions of naira either stolen or misappropriated is uncovered.
“We the whistle blowers in and outside the union seek the interventions of the Transparency International, the International Labour Organisation and other anti corruption crusaders locally and internationally to prevail on the Nigerian government to allow this investigation see the light of the day. We request also your direct interventions in the areas of a thorough forensic audit of the accounts of the union.
“Our appeal for your support is coming on the heels of many attempts to scuttle this historic investigation by governmental agencies as seen with the EFCC under Abdul Rasheed Bawa, who until now has refused to make public the monumental fraud discovered in the union by the EFCC.
“Of late, there has been fresh attempts by the National Industrial Court Abuja to frustrate the criminal investigation through a court injunction calling for a halt of the probe This is really very suspicious and we believe strongly that the National Industrial Court is compromised to have wanted to stop the financial probe of a union which actually should be of interest to the court to use this classical case to unravel the corruption culture in the Nigerian industrial unions. Moreso, the courts are on recess, how come the injunction ? What is the business of an industrial court with with a criminal investigation ? Is the National Industrial Court trying to defend fraud ? For us as whistle blowers we are suspecting synergy and collaboration with the National Industrial Court , Abuja to truncate this novel investigations. We also believe strongly that the President of the National Industrial court is also hand in hand with some corrupt officials of the union to bail out corrupt union officials. We therefore appeal for the interventions of the Transparency International in this regards.
“The ILO is called upon to take interest in ensuring corrupt free industrial unions inorder to promote the well being of workers. We believe there is monumental corruption on going within the industrial unions in Nigeria and this classical case in ASCSN will help put an end to corruption in work place unions in Nigeria.
“We therefore call for your urgent interventions to ensuring that this investigation against graft in ASCSN is conclusive”.