The Department of State Services (DSS) has sued the 2007 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Patrick Okedinachi Utomi (also known as Prof. Pat Utomi), over his avowed plan to form a shadow government in the country.

In the suit filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja, with Utomi as sole defendant, and marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/937/2025, the plaintiff is contending that the move was intended to create chaos and destabilise the country.

The secret police, in the suit filed by a team of lawyers, led by Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), argued that, not only is the planned shadow government an aberration, it also constitutes a grave attack on the Constitution, and a threat to the democratically elected government that is currently in place.

It argued that such a structure, styled as a ‘shadow government’, if left unchecked, might incite political unrest, 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 plaintiff wants the court to declare the purported “shadow government or cabinet” by Utomi and his associates 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 DSS is also seeking 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 applicant wants 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).”

Among the grounds on which the plaintiff is hinging its prayers includes that Section 1(1) of the Constitution declares its supremacy and binding force on all persons and authorities in Nigeria.

It added that Section 1(2) prohibits the governance of Nigeria or any part thereof except in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

The suit, filed on May 13, is yet to be assigned to any judge for hearing.

BUT, a renowned political economist and Director of the Commonwealth Institute for Advanced Professional Studies (CIAPS), Prof. Anthony Kila, has expressed his support for the shadow cabinet unveiled by Utomi.

Utomi, a political economist-cum politician and leader of the Big Tent Coalition, earlier this month unveiled a shadow government established to serve as a credible opposition to President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

The initiative, described by Utomi as a ‘national emergency response’, was launched to address what he characterised as worsening economic and security conditions under the current government.

Reacting to the development, Kila, a Professor of Strategy and Development, declared that not only did he not see anything wrong with the idea, but he fully supports it.

Kila expressed his views while addressing the recent Cambridge African Round Table (CARt), an international platform for analysts, corporate and public leaders, diplomats, and scholars dedicated to organising and hosting conversations, facilitating research, and connecting individuals to aid in understanding policies and providing solutions to African and global affairs.