Court fixes June 25 to hear DSS lawsuit against Pat Utomi

A federal high court in Abuja has fixed June 25 to hear a suit filed by the Department of State Services (DSS) against Pat Utomi over his recently launched “shadow government”.

James Omotosho, presiding judge, fixed the date after Akinlolu Kehinde, counsel to the DSS, moved a motion ex parte seeking to serve court documents on Utomi at his Lagos address through courier service.

Kehinde claimed that the secret service has been unable to send the court documents to Utomi. The judge granted the application.

Professor Utomi, who teaches political economy, announced the formation of a shadow government on 5 May. The initiative, launched virtually under the banner of the Big Tent Coalition Shadow Government, according to Utomi, aims to serve as a credible opposition to the President Bola Tinubu administration.

The DSS has filed suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/937/2025, asking the court to declare that the shadow government breaks Nigeria’s constitution. The secret police argue that Utomi’s initiative was intended to create chaos and destabilise the country.

The DSS also claims the shadow government may incite political unrest, cause tensions between different groups, and encourage other unlawful actors or separatist entities to copy similar arrangements. They say this would pose a serious threat to national security.

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The DSS then urged the court to declare the purported “shadow government” or “shadow cabinet” as “unconstitutional and amounts to an attempt to create a parallel authority not recognised by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)”.

The agency also 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 plaintiff prayed 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 recognized by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).”