The Department of State Services (DSS) has filed a lawsuit against political economist and former presidential candidate, Pat Utomi, over his recent move to establish a shadow government in Nigeria.

In the suit, filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja and marked FHC/ABJ/CS/937/2025, the DSS is seeking a declaration that the proposed shadow government is unconstitutional and poses a threat to national security.

Utomi, who contested the presidency in 2007 under the African Democratic Congress (ADC), is the sole defendant in the case.

According to the DSS, the move to form a shadow cabinet, which Utomi said would serve as a credible opposition to President Bola Tinubu’s administration, could incite unrest and encourage other unlawful or separatist movements.

The secret police, through its legal team led by Akinlolu Kehinde, argued that the concept of a shadow government is an aberration and its implementation could destabilise the country’s democratic institutions.

“Such a structure,” the suit states, “might incite political unrest, intergroup tensions, and embolden unlawful actors to replicate similar parallel arrangements.”

The DSS is asking the court to declare the formation of a shadow cabinet by Utomi and his associates “unconstitutional and an attempt to create a parallel authority not recognised by the 1999 Constitution (as amended).”

The suit is yet to be assigned to a judge.

Utomi, who leads the Big Tent Coalition, said the shadow government was created to engage the public, shape discourse and offer solutions to Nigeria’s challenges, not to undermine the state.