{"id":8523,"date":"2025-05-15T17:37:46","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T17:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/?p=8523"},"modified":"2025-05-15T17:39:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T17:39:23","slug":"dss-drags-former-presidential-candidate-to-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/?p=8523","title":{"rendered":"DSS Drags Former Presidential Candidate, Pat Utomi To Court"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Department of State Services (DSS) has taken former presidential candidate, Professor Pat Utomi, to court for allegedly trying to undermine President Bola Tinubu\u2019s authority by setting up a \u201cshadow government\u201d in Nigeria.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The DSS, in a suit filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, prayed the court to declare the move as an attack on the constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the fresh suit marked FHC\/ABJ\/CS\/937\/2025, Utomi, the 2007 Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), is sued as sole defendant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The security outfit, in the suit filed on May 13 by Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, contended that the move by Utomi was intended to create chaos and destabilise the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The DSS argued that not only was the planned shadow government an aberration, it constituted a grave attack on the constitution and a threat to the democratically elected government that is currently in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It expressed concern that such a structure, styled as a \u201cshadow government,\u201d if left unchecked, may incite political unrest, cause inter-group tensions, and embolden other unlawful actors or separatist entities to replicate similar parallel arrangements, all of which would pose a grave threat to national security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The plaintiff, therefore, urged the court to declare the purported \u201cshadow government\u201d or \u201cshadow cabinet\u201d being planned by Utomi and his associates as \u201cunconstitutional and amounts to an attempt to create a parallel authority not recognised by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is also sought a declaration that \u201cunder 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The plaintiff prayed the court to issue an order of perpetual injunction, restraining Utomi, his agents and associates \u201cfrom further taking any steps towards the establishment or operation of a \u2018shadow government,\u2019 \u2018shadow cabinet\u2019 or any similar entity not recognized by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The plaintiff, in its grounds of argument, hinged its prayers on the fact that Section 1(1) of the Constitution declares its supremacy and binding force on all persons and authorities in Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It added that Section 1(2) prohibits the governance of Nigeria or any part thereof except in accordance with the provisions of the constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the DSS, Section 14(2Xa) states that sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria, from whom government through the constitution derives all its powers and authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It contended that Utomi\u2019s proposed shadow government lacked constitutional recognition and authority, thereby contravening the aforementioned provisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The plaintiff further stated in a supporting affidavit that it is the principal domestic intelligence and security agency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria statutorily mandated to detect and prevent threats to the internal security of Nigeria, including subversive activities capable of undermining national unity, peace and constitutional order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The DSS added that it is statutorily empowered to safeguard the internal security of Nigeria and prevent any threats to the lawful authority of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Its constituent institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It stated that it has monitored, \u201cthrough intelligence reports and open source material, public statements and interviews granted by the defendant, Professor Patrick Utomi, in which he announced the purported establishment of what he termed a \u2018shadow government\u2019 or \u2018shadow cabinet,\u2019 comprising several persons that make up its \u2018Ministers.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The DSS said in the discharge of Its statutory duties, it had gathered intelligence confirming that the defendant\u2019s actions pose a clear and present danger to Nigeria\u2019s constitutional democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe defendant\u2019s actions amount to an attempt to usurp or mimic executive authority, contrary to Sections 1(1), 1{2), and 14(2Xa) of the 1999 Constitution (As Amended), which exclusively vests governance in institutions duly created under the constitution and through democratic elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Federal Government of Nigeria has made several efforts to engage the defendant to dissuade him from this unconstitutional path, including statements made by the Minister of Information, but the defendant has remained defiant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The agency said it would be in the interest of justice, national security and the rule of law for the court to declare the existence and operations of the defendant unconstitutional and illegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The suit is yet to be assigned to any judge for hearing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Department of State Services (DSS) has taken former presidential candidate, Professor Pat Utomi, to court for allegedly trying to undermine President Bola Tinubu\u2019s authority by setting up a \u201cshadow&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":8526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pages"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>DSS Drags Former Presidential Candidate, Pat Utomi To Court -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/?p=8523\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DSS Drags Former Presidential Candidate, Pat Utomi To Court -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Department of State Services (DSS) has taken former presidential candidate, Professor Pat Utomi, to court for allegedly trying to undermine President Bola Tinubu\u2019s authority by setting up a \u201cshadow&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/?p=8523\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-15T17:37:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-15T17:39:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cpix8ylo.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"105\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"118\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Abdullahi Mustapha\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Abdullahi Mustapha\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/?p=8523#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/?p=8523\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Abdullahi Mustapha\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5acb19f5018d000ec8c8034c2efa711\"},\"headline\":\"DSS Drags Former Presidential Candidate, Pat Utomi To Court\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-15T17:37:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-15T17:39:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/?p=8523\"},\"wordCount\":717,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/?p=8523#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/cpix8ylo.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Pages\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/?p=8523#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/?p=8523\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/?p=8523\",\"name\":\"DSS Drags Former Presidential Candidate, Pat Utomi To Court -\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/?p=8523#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/?p=8523#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/cpix8ylo.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-15T17:37:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-15T17:39:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5acb19f5018d000ec8c8034c2efa711\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/?p=8523#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/?p=8523\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/?p=8523#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/cpix8ylo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/cpix8ylo.png\",\"width\":105,\"height\":118},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/?p=8523#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"DSS Drags Former Presidential Candidate, Pat Utomi To Court\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5acb19f5018d000ec8c8034c2efa711\",\"name\":\"Abdullahi Mustapha\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e69666c0739f6ed4a468a2167654054e96101ff496cb1e22e2fe3992faf31e87?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e69666c0739f6ed4a468a2167654054e96101ff496cb1e22e2fe3992faf31e87?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e69666c0739f6ed4a468a2167654054e96101ff496cb1e22e2fe3992faf31e87?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Abdullahi Mustapha\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/psmnigeria.org\\\/?author=5\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"DSS Drags Former Presidential Candidate, Pat Utomi To Court -","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/?p=8523","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"DSS Drags Former Presidential Candidate, Pat Utomi To Court -","og_description":"The Department of State Services (DSS) has taken former presidential candidate, Professor Pat Utomi, to court for allegedly trying to undermine President Bola Tinubu\u2019s authority by setting up a \u201cshadow&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/?p=8523","article_published_time":"2025-05-15T17:37:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-05-15T17:39:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":105,"height":118,"url":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cpix8ylo.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Abdullahi Mustapha","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Abdullahi Mustapha","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/?p=8523#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/?p=8523"},"author":{"name":"Abdullahi Mustapha","@id":"http:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/#\/schema\/person\/f5acb19f5018d000ec8c8034c2efa711"},"headline":"DSS Drags Former Presidential Candidate, Pat Utomi To Court","datePublished":"2025-05-15T17:37:46+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-15T17:39:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/?p=8523"},"wordCount":717,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/?p=8523#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cpix8ylo.png","articleSection":["Pages"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/?p=8523#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/?p=8523","url":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/?p=8523","name":"DSS Drags Former Presidential Candidate, Pat Utomi To Court -","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/?p=8523#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/?p=8523#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cpix8ylo.png","datePublished":"2025-05-15T17:37:46+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-15T17:39:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/#\/schema\/person\/f5acb19f5018d000ec8c8034c2efa711"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/?p=8523#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/?p=8523"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/?p=8523#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cpix8ylo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cpix8ylo.png","width":105,"height":118},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/?p=8523#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"DSS Drags Former Presidential Candidate, Pat Utomi To Court"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/#website","url":"http:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/","name":"","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/#\/schema\/person\/f5acb19f5018d000ec8c8034c2efa711","name":"Abdullahi Mustapha","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e69666c0739f6ed4a468a2167654054e96101ff496cb1e22e2fe3992faf31e87?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e69666c0739f6ed4a468a2167654054e96101ff496cb1e22e2fe3992faf31e87?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e69666c0739f6ed4a468a2167654054e96101ff496cb1e22e2fe3992faf31e87?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Abdullahi Mustapha"},"url":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/?author=5"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cpix8ylo.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8523"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8525,"href":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8523\/revisions\/8525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psmnigeria.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}