The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to revive Creative Brains Academy Limited and JJ Integrated Services Limited to its register of companies after hanging off their names in 2024.
Justice James Omotosho delivered the 2 separate rulings in October 26, 2026 following functions filed by the respective companies.
Nairametrics solely experiences that the authorized groups of the 2 companies dragged the CAC earlier than the court docket, in search of beneficial declaratory reliefs.
Companies’ arguments
Creative Brains, amongst different reliefs, prayed for an order setting apart the CAC’s publication hanging off the applicant’s title from the Register of Companies.
The firm’s authorized group submitted that the court docket’s restorative jurisdiction ought to be exercised judicially and judiciously, having regard to the information positioned earlier than it.
The firm argued that the applicant had demonstrated a bona fide intention to regularise its standing by submitting all excellent annual returns.
For JJ Integrated Services, the corporate urged the court docket to direct the CAC to relist and restore its title to the register of companies maintained by the fee.
What the court docket mentioned
In the case involving Creative Brains, Justice Omotosho, citing the affidavit filed in assist of the applying, said that the applicant had introduced copies of acknowledgements confirming the submitting of excellent annual returns for 2016 to 2025, as required by the CAC.
- He dominated that, having complied with the requirement to file annual returns, the corporate was entitled to have its title restored to the register.
- The decide held that it was within the curiosity of justice to revive the applicant’s title to the register of companies maintained by the CAC and protect its company identification by putting it in the identical place as if its title had not been struck off.
- The decide additionally famous, based mostly on the additional affidavit, that the applicant had proven that its title was struck off via a publication dated December 30, 2024, which was inside 10 years of the date of its elimination from the register.
He added that the applying was introduced timeously and that the court docket was empowered by the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), 2020, to grant the reduction sought.
In his last evaluation, the decide dominated that Creative Brains’ utility was meritorious and consequently ordered the CAC to revive the corporate to the register.
In his separate ruling on JJ Integrated Services, the decide additionally noticed that the corporate had complied with the related legal guidelines by submitting its excellent annual returns for 2009 to 2026.
- “The law confers on this Honourable Court the discretionary powers to order the restoration of the name of a company on the register of companies kept by the Corporate Affairs Commission,” he said.
Citing Section 692(6) of CAMA 2020, the court docket expressed satisfaction that the corporate had been carrying on enterprise on the time its title was struck off the register.
The decide subsequently ordered the CAC to revive the corporate’s title to the register.
What it is best to know
The CAC is a Federal Government company chargeable for the registration, regulation and administration of companies in Nigeria.
- One of the important thing legal guidelines governing its operations is the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA).
- Under CAMA and the 1999 Constitution, the Federal High Court has jurisdiction to adjudicate on related disputes involving the CAC and make acceptable orders throughout the limits of its constitutional and statutory powers.
- In April 2024, the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the(*2*) to revive Osinowo Properties Company Limited, an organization based 56 years earlier, to its register of companies.
The CAC deregistered over 400,000 companies in 2025, citing extended inactivity and failure to fulfill statutory compliance necessities.
