The Niger State Parent Teachers Association (NIPTA) has dragged the Niger State Ministry of Basic Education, the Director-General of Schools and Education Reforms, Hajiya Maimuna Mohammed, and the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the Niger State Parent Teachers Association, Prof. Yakubu Auna, to the High Court, seeking to restrain the defendants from interfering in the affairs of NIPTA.
In a motion on notice filed at Minna High Court Number Two, the plaintiff applicants cited Order 93 (1) and (2) of the High Court Civil Procedure Rules 2018 and relied on the inherent jurisdiction of the court.
The plaintiff is praying for an interlocutory injunction restraining the caretaker committee chairman and other committee members, as constituted by the Director-General of Schools and Education Reforms in Niger State, from taking any steps or performing any function that would imply or confer the status of caretaker of the plaintiff pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
The plaintiff is also seeking such further order as the court may deem fit in the circumstances.
The motion on notice, backed by a fifteen-paragraph affidavit deposed by Mallam Yunusa Adamu, the current chairman of NIPTA, argued that the association was duly registered as a corporate entity with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
The affidavit noted that the plaintiff had operated as an association for many years without proper registration and had faced several interferences and attempts by the first defendant to take over its operations. This prompted the registration of the association with the CAC.
“After registering with the Corporate Affairs Commission, the plaintiff, via a letter signed by myself, immediately notified the 1st Defendant of the plaintiff’s incorporation. The said notification letter dated 5 May 2025 and addressed to the Honourable Commissioner of the 1st Defendant is attached and marked Exhibit Two,” it stated.
The plaintiff further averred that operations continued without hindrance until 7 November 2025, when the 2nd defendant held a press conference at the Education Resources Centre in Minna and arbitrarily announced the dissolution of the association.
Following this, the 2nd defendant hurriedly constituted a caretaker committee, chaired by the 3rd defendant, to manage the affairs of the association.
Claiming illegality in the dissolution and constitution of the caretaker committee, the plaintiff approached the court to determine the lawfulness of the 2nd defendant’s actions.
The plaintiff contended that allowing the caretaker committee to take decisions on behalf of the association could make it difficult, if not impossible, to undo such actions if the substantive suit is successful, and that compensation would be inadequate for the resulting damage.
The plaintiff is therefore seeking a court order restraining the caretaker committee, chaired by the 3rd defendant, from acting pending the determination of the substantive suit.
Among the fundamental questions to be determined by the court are whether the 2nd defendant, as Director-General of Schools and Education Reforms and acting under the authority of the 1st defendant, had the power to arbitrarily dissolve the plaintiff, a corporate entity duly registered with the CAC, despite the provisions of Section 850(1) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020.
Whether the arbitrary dissolution of the plaintiff by the 2nd defendant, announced on 7 November 2025 and overseen by the 3rd defendant, is illegal.
The hearing of the motion on notice has been scheduled for 12 January 2026 at Minna High Court Number Two, presided over by Justice Mikhail Abdullahi.
