‘Shadow Govt’: Utomi Hits Back At DSS, Says, Tinubu Will Face Same Fate

Renowned Economics and former presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Prof. Pat Utomi, has taken a swipe at the Department of State Services on the legal suit file against him by the Agency with regards to him his forming a Shadow Government.

Prof Utomi, who took to his X handle @Utomipat, said that President Bola Tinubu will experience similar fate, adding that “all will ultimately go the way of man.

Utomi was responding to the DSS which accused him of attempting to illegally usurp the executive powers of President Tinubu by setting up a Shadow Government.

Utomi said; “What is certain is that Tinubu will not escape that same fate. He may have been in London when I faced the assassins under Abacha and been the supplier to Chief Enahoro and NADECO abroad of reports of my position on matters of the struggle.

The Secret Service in the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/937/2025, filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, claimed that Utomi’s actions posed a threat to national security and constitutional order.

The DSS in the suit filed through its legal team led by Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, on Wednesday, May 14, 2025, named Utomi as the sole defendant in the case in which it alleged that he was attempting to illegally usurp the executive powers of Tinubu.

The Service noted that the planned ‘Shadow Government’ or ‘Shadow Cabinet’ is an unregistered and unrecognised body claiming to operate as an alternative government.

It said that ‘Shadow Government’ is contrary to the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

The DSS further said that based on the intelligence gathered, the activities and statements made by Utomi and his associates are capable of misleading segments of the Nigerian public, weakening confidence in the legitimacy of the elected government, and fuelling public disaffection.

The Service also said that if left unchallenged, the ‘Shadow Government’ could destabilise the country, incite political unrest and undermine national security, as it was intended to create chaos.

The DSS pointedly said that such a ‘Shadow Government’, could cause intergroup tensions and embolden other unlawful actors or separatist entities to establish similar parallel arrangements, all of which would pose a serious threat to national security.