Court Rules In DSS Suit Challenging Pat Utomi’s ‘Shadow Cabinet’

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

Naija News reports that Justice James Omotosho delivered the ruling on Monday morning.

Recall that the Department of State Services (DSS), in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/937/2025, contended that the move by Utomi was intended to create chaos and destabilise the country.

The DSS is of the view that, not only is the planned shadow government an aberration, it constitutes a grave attack on the Constitution and a threat to the democratically elected government that is currently in place.

It expressed concern that such a structure, styled as a ‘shadow government,’ if left unchecked, may incite 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 plaintiff wants the court to declare the purported “shadow government” or”‘shadow cabinet” being planned by Utomi and his associates as “unconstitutional and amounts to an attempt to create a parallel authority not recognized 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.”

Delivering judgement on Monday, Justice Omotosho upheld the arguments of the DSS that Utomi’s action portends danger to the peace and security of Nigeria.

The judge said he had perused the country’s Constitution, and there was no part that supports the formation of a shadow or parallel government.

Citing Section 1(1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution, Omotosho stated that the Constitution is supreme and binding on all citizens, irrespective of their political affiliations.

He ruled: “The Nigerian constitution makes no room for a shadow government. Therefore, any participation in any government which is unknown to law will be struck down by this court.

“I hereby declare the formation as void.”

The judge also affirmed the court’s jurisdictional power to entertain the matter.