The Federal High Court in Abuja has directed the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), its Registrar-General, and the Federal Ministry of Youth Development to maintain the status quo in the case involving the purported deregistration of the National Youth Council of Nigeria.
The order came in response to a lawsuit brought by NYCN President Ambassador Sukubo Sara-Igbe Sukubo, who was disputing the CAC’s putative deregistration of the apex youth body.
It should be noted that on October 7, 2025, the CAC, via the Ministry of Youth Development, announced the deregistration of the NYCN, just days after Sukubo was re-elected as president despite ongoing legal suits.
On October 15, 2025, Justice B.F.M. Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, issued a restraining order in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/2142/2025, directing the parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum and putting the defendants on notice.
The claimants in the action are the National Youth Council of Nigeria’s Incorporated Trustees, as well as Ambassador Sukubo Sara-Igbe Sukubo, the council’s Board of Trustees’ secretary.
The defendants are the Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission, the CAC itself, the Minister of Youth Development, and the Federal Ministry of Youth Development.
The court set the hearing on the Motion on Notice for October 28, 2025.
The court order also contains the following language: “An Order of Interim Injunction restraining the 1st and 2nd Defendants (CAC and Registrar-General), whether by themselves, their agents, privies, servants, assigns, or anybody howsoever described, from withdrawing the registration certificate of the 1st Claimant or from de-recognizing all existing claims to leadership, trusteeship, and management within the 1st Claimant pending the determination of the Motion on Notice.”
The court further prohibited the Minister and the Ministry of Youth Development from acting on or implementing the purported deregistration pending the hearing of the substantive motion.
Justice Nyako, after hearing arguments from the claimants’ attorney, Mustapha Shaba Ibrahim, SAN, directed the parties to maintain peace and the status quo till the next hearing date.