A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has delivered judgment on the move by Professor Pat Utomi and his associates to establish a shadow government in Nigeria, declaring the initiative illegal, unlawful, and unconstitutional.
In the suit instituted by the Department of State Services (DSS), Justice James Omotosho ruled that Utomi and his associates could not hide under the right to freedom of association to engage in what he described as unlawful activities.
The court held that the attempt to set up a shadow government was “null, void and unconstitutional,” stressing that the proper channel for Utomi and his group was to either form or join a political party to run for office or provide constructive opposition.
Justice Omotosho further ruled that the association registered by Utomi with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), known as the Big Tent Coalition Shadow Government (BTCSG), for the purpose of sponsoring his shadow government, was ultra vires.
On whether the suit by the DSS violated the fundamental rights of Utomi and his associates, the judge held that their action was “dangerous and non-justifiable.” He emphasized that fundamental rights were not absolute but had limitations, especially where national security was concerned.
“It is within the right of the DSS to take steps to prevent acts capable of threatening the nation’s internal security,” Justice Omotosho stated.
In May, Utomi had launched the Big Tent Coalition Shadow Government (BTCSG), describing it as a “national emergency response.” But the DSS subsequently approached the court to determine the constitutionality of the initiative within Nigeria’s presidential system.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/937/2025, the DSS argued that the shadow government being championed by Utomi was alien to the Nigerian Constitution and posed a threat to national stability.
The agency warned that with a democratically elected government in place, any shadow government “could incite, trigger 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.”
Consequently, the DSS urged the court to declare the proposed shadow government unconstitutional, describing it as “an attempt to create a parallel authority not recognized by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).”
The security agency also sought a perpetual injunction restraining Utomi, his agents, and associates from “taking any further steps towards the establishment or operation of a shadow government, shadow cabinet, or any similar entity not recognized by the Constitution.”
