The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), its Registrar-General, and other defendants to maintain the status quo ante bellum in the controversy surrounding the alleged deregistration of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN).
The interim order followed a suit filed by the NYCN President, Ambassador Sukubo Sara-Igbe Sukubo, challenging the CAC’s recent announcement, through the Federal Ministry of Youth Development, that the apex youth body had been deregistered.
Justice B. F. M. Nyako, presiding over the case with suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/2142/2025, gave the directive on October 15, 2025, and adjourned the matter to October 28, 2025, for hearing of the Motion on Notice.
The claimants in the suit are the Incorporated Trustees of the National Youth Council of Nigeria and Amb. Sukubo Sara-Igbe Sukubo, who also serves as the council’s President and Secretary of its Board of Trustees. The defendants include the Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission, the Corporate Affairs Commission, the Minister of Youth Development, and the Federal Ministry of Youth Development.
The order, which was released to journalists in Abuja on Friday, restrained the defendants from implementing or acting upon the purported withdrawal of NYCN’s registration certificate pending the determination of the substantive motion.
Part of the order read:
“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 (Incorporated Trustees of NYCN) or from de-recognizing all existing claims to leadership, trusteeship and management within the 1st Claimant, pending the hearing and determination of the Claimant/Applicant’s Motion on Notice for interlocutory injunction.”
The court further ordered that the 3rd and 4th defendants — the Minister of Youth Development and the Federal Ministry of Youth Development — “be restrained from acting on or giving any effect to the purported withdrawal of the 1st Claimant’s certificate of registration” until the next hearing.
Justice Nyako directed that the defendants be properly served and notified before the adjourned date.
The CAC, through the Ministry of Youth Development, had on October 7, 2025, announced the deregistration of the NYCN, sparking controversy within the youth community. The announcement came despite the re-election of Amb. Sukubo as NYCN President amid ongoing legal disputes over the council’s leadership and recognition.
