DSS vs Pat Utomi, Associates: Court delivers judgement in suit challenging “shadow govt”

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja will, on Monday (September 29), deliver judgment in a suit filed by the Department of State Services (DSS) challenging the legality of Prof. Pat Utomi’s alleged plan to establish a “shadow government” in Nigeria.

The presiding judge, James Omotosho, after entertaining arguments from lawyers to parties and listening to the opinions of the seven amici curiae invited by the court, had fixed Monday, September 29, for judgement.

The DSS, in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/937/2025, contended that the “shadow government” being championed by Prof. Utomi, not only is alien to the Nigerian Constitution, but also capable of causing anarchy and destabilising Nigeria.

The DSS further contended that with a democratically-elected presidential government in place, any “shadow government as being promoted by Utomi or anybody, could incite, “trigger political unrest, cause intergroup tensions, and embolden other unlawful actors or separatist entities to replicate similar parallel arrangements, all of which pose a grave threat to national security.”

Advertisement

The secret police, whose constitutional mandate is to oversee internal security, prayed the curt to declare the purported “shadow government” or”‘shadow cabinet” being planned by Utomi and his associates as unconstitutional, arguing that it “amounts to an attempt to create a parallel authority not recognized by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).”

The DSS further sought a declaration that “under Sections 1(1), 1(2) and 14(2)(a) of the Constitution, the establishment or operation of any governmental authority or structure outside the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended). is unconstitutional, null, and void.”

In addition, the secret police wanted the court to issue an order of perpetual injunction, restraining Utomi, his agents and associates “from further taking any steps towards the establishment or operation of a ‘shadow government,’ ‘shadow cabinet’ or any similar entity not recognised by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).”

In his final submission on July 10, counsel to the DSS, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), held that Utomi, among other things, lacked the power to establish any shadow government which is not supported by any provision of the Constitution.

In his final submission on July 10 plaintiff’s lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), argued among others that Utomi lacked the power to establish any shadow government which is not supported by any provision of the Constitution.

According to the senior lawyer, the DSS verily believed that the shadow government proposed by Utomi was designed to subvert its democratic rights.

“No matter how strong Utomi’s concerns are, no group is allowed to establish any organisation against the authority of the Nigerian government.

“The right to express one’s freedom is granted, but there is a limitation where the exercise of such right brings tension against the government of the day,” noted the lawyer, warning, “we must not allow the cat to get out of the cage before chasing it.”