By Abiola Olawale
The Department of State Services (DSS) has filed an urgent application at the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking to prevent Professor Pat Utomi, a renowned political economist and former presidential candidate, from organizing rallies and public engagements linked to his “shadow government” initiative.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/937/2025, accused Utomi of actions that could destabilize Nigeria’s democratic framework and threaten national security.
The DSS alleged that Utomi’s plan to stage roadshows and rallies upon his return to Nigeria on June 6 aims to promote his Big Tent Coalition Shadow Government, launched on May 5, 2025, as a “credible opposition” to President Bola Tinubu’s administration, is inappropriate.
The agency also claimed these activities could incite public unrest, drawing parallels to the disruptive 2020 #EndSARS protests.
In a supporting affidavit, the DSS warned that Utomi’s actions “are capable of causing a breakdown of public order, enabling riots and violent protests, which may lead to mayhem, loss of lives, and property.”
This was brought before the court by the legal counsel to the DSS, Akinlolu Kehinde.
Kehinde submitted that the DSS gathered through monitoring and intelligence reports, that Utomi, who is out of the country and is due to return on June 6, allegedly plans “to stage road shows and rallies under the guise of freedom of speech and association in a bid to cause public discontent in furtherance of his establishment of the purported shadow government/shadow cabinet”.
The affidavit reads in part: “All the planned protests, riots, and agitations that will ensue if the purported actions of the defendant/respondent do not stay, may lead to mayhem with a potential for anarchy, loss of lives and property.
“The proposed allies, road shows, and actions of the defendant/respondent constitute a serious threat to the public order, safety, and national unity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Consequently, the applicants are praying to the court for “an order of interlocutory injunction, restraining the defendant/respondent (Utomi), his agents, privies, associates, servants, workers or any person acting through him from staging road shows, rallies, public lectures or any form of public gathering, newspaper publications, television programs, jingles or any other public enlightenment program (s) aimed at sensitizing, instigating, propagating or in any way promoting the purported “shadow government/shadow cabinet” or its objectives or goals with the view to establishing the said “shadow government” pending the hearing and determination of this substantive suit”.
“It is in the interest of justice, national security, and the rule of law for this honorable court to grant this application,” the suit reads.
