The Federal High Court in Abuja will on Monday, September 29, deliver judgment in a suit filed by the Department of State Services (DSS) seeking to stop the alleged plan by Professor Pat Utomi to establish a “shadow government” in Nigeria.
Justice James Omotosho fixed the date for judgment after hearing arguments from lawyers to the parties and considering the opinions of seven amici curiae invited to guide the court.
The DSS, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/937/2025, argued that the “shadow government” being championed by Utomi is not only alien to the Nigerian Constitution but also capable of causing anarchy and destabilizing the country.
The agency contended that with a democratically elected presidential system in place, any attempt to set up a parallel authority “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.”
The DSS asked the court to declare the purported “shadow government” or “shadow cabinet” unconstitutional, insisting it “amounts to an attempt to create a parallel authority not recognized by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).”
It 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.”
The service is also asking the court for 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 recognized by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).”
During the final hearing on July 10, DSS counsel Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN) argued that Utomi had no constitutional basis to establish a shadow government.
According to him, “The DSS verily believes that the shadow government proposed by Utomi is 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. We must not allow the cat to get out of the cage before chasing it.”
