BREAKING: DSS secures victory as court declares Utomi’s ‘shadow government’ illegal

A Federal High Court in Abuja has declared as unconstitutional the plan by Professor Pat Utomi to establish what he described as a “shadow government” in the country.

Justice James Omotosho delivered the ruling on Monday morning in a suit filed by the Department of State Services (DSS), marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/937/2025.

The DSS argued that Utomi’s move was intended to create chaos and destabilise Nigeria’s democratic order.

According to the secret police, the proposed shadow government was not only an aberration but also a grave attack on the Constitution and a threat to the democratically elected government in place.

The DSS warned that allowing such a structure to exist could incite political unrest, trigger intergroup tensions, and embolden other unlawful actors or separatist groups to establish similar parallel authorities, posing a severe threat to national security.

The agency, therefore, asked the court to declare Utomi’s planned “shadow government” or “shadow cabinet” unconstitutional and an attempt to create a parallel authority not recognised by the 1999 Constitution (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 outside its provisions is unconstitutional, null, and void.