EXCEPT with a swift intervention from the National President and the organs of the Nigeria Civil Service Union (NCSU), another internal crisis might erupt in the union as a result of the retirement from active service a serving national officer of the union, Comrade Ashaolu Ademola Olaleye, who is alleged to have refused to quit his elective position in the union; National Record can authoritatively report.
Comrade Olaleye, who is serving his second term as vice president of NCSU, retired from the Lagos State civil service with effect from Monday, October 9, 2023, having attained the statutory retirement age of 60, documents obtained from a reliable source in NCSU indicate.
The documents obtained by National Record include a letter and accompanying attachments from a member of the union’s Lagos State Council, who alleged to have written “for and on behalf” of the council, one Abiodun Oyewole, to NCSU President, Comrade Sunday Oluwole Adeleye, dated 30th October, 2023, entitled: “RE: STATUTORY RETIREMENT OF MR. ASHAOLU ADEMOLA OLAYEMI [sic] FROM ACTIVE SERVICE OF LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT”.
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The letter drew the attention of the union’s president to the fact that Comrade Olaleye had retired from active service having attained the statutory age of retirement from public service, and there was therefore the need to declare his position vacant and subsequently replace him.
Oyewole said the rationale for his memo is to save the union from unnecessary litigation and embarrassment that could dent the name of the union as had been witnessed during the leadership of Comrade Lawrence Amechi.
The letter reads in part: “Sir, be informed that Mr. Ashaolu Ademola Olayemi, [sic] the current National Vice President (South West) of our great union had bowed out of active service with effect from 9th October, 2023 having attained the statutory retirement age of Sixty (60) years, hence, the need to declare his seat vacant at the next NEC meeting of November/December, 2023 and a bye election be conducted to replace him with qualified Candidate in Lagos or within the Zone.
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“2. The import of this letter is to however, save the union from unnecessary judicial process or embarrassment that could put the name of the union in disrepute once again since the scar of the last Amaechi administration’s judicial embarrassment is not fully healed coupled with wanton resources of the Union wasted during the court processes.
“3. Consequently, you are respectfully required to use your good office to look into this matter as it is a known fact that your disposition since assumption of office as the NATIONAL PRESIDENT of this noble union is totally and absolutely against any court case(s) that will truncate or disturb the peace of your tenure as the NATIONAL PRESIDENT.”
One of the attachments, the Pension Form from the Lagos State Pension Commission that was filled by Comrade Olaleye prior to his retirement, signed on 4th September 2023, indicate that Olaleye was born on 9th October 1963 and that he was appointed on September 1, 1998 by the Lagos State Library Board where he had worked until attaining age of retirement on 9th October, 2023, after serving for 25 years.
The second attachment, a letter signed by Mrs Nwamara Abike on behalf of the permanent secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Tertiary Education, confirmed to the Lagos State Pension Commission relevant retirement information of the NCSU Vice President. These include application for statutory retirement, certified true copy (CTC) of approval for retirement, CTC letter of appointment, confirmation letter, letter of conversion, CTC letters of promotion, CTC duly certified record of service, payslips from May-July 2023, amongst others.
Efforts to contact Comrade Olaleye to speak on his alleged retirement via calls and WhatsApp message failed. While calls did not go through, the WhatsApp message was later delivered and read late Sunday, but Comrade Olaleye failed to respond as at press time Monday afternoon.
Similarly, President of the Union, Comrade Adeleye, also failed to respond to our enquiries. Calls to him also did not go through just as he also did not respond to an enquiry message on the matter that was sent, delivered and read.
While Comrade Bomoi Mohammed Ibraheem, NCSU’s General Secretary, picked our call Monday morning, he however told National Record that he had forwarded to the union’s Lagos State Council our enquiry message sent to him via WhatsApp on Sunday for the council’s views. Although he promised to get back shortly, he did not do so over three hours later, and as at press time.
Meanwhile, National Record gathered from an impeccable source that the issue of retirement of elected officials who are reluctant to relinquish their positions has become endemic in NCSU.
According to the source, who pleaded anonymity for not being the union’s authorised spokesperson, some state councils of the union are still being presided over by chairpersons who had since retired from public service.
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Although the source declined to name the chairpersons and the state councils over which they preside, a member of the union, who also pleaded anonymity, told National Record that two of such councils are in the North while three are in the South.
The source however declined to name the states or the chairpersons. It could be recalled that NCSU had faced protracted litigations beginning in 2016 over issues of its elected officials who refused to leave office after retirement from public service, a situation which had stoked intense internal crisis up to 2022 when the current executive of the union was elected in a Special Delegates Conference organised by a court-appointed Trustee.
