DSS’ Democratic Approach to Shadow Government 

Is the decision of the Department of State Services to challenge the promoter of shadow government, Prof. Pat Utomi in court rather than resorting to arbitrary arrests and other acts of repression that had characterised the operation of the agency an indication that the secret police have imbibed the tenets of democracy and the rule of law, Ejiofor Alike asks

The recent court action initiated by the Department of State Services (DSS) against the promoter of shadow government, Prof. Pat Utomi is a clear departure from the tradition of the agency, which had always used acts of repression to suppress, intimidate and persecute voices of dissent and other opposition elements.

Under its previous leadership, DSS gained notoriety for engaging in acts of impunity, illegal arrests and other forms of human rights abuses.

In the early life of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, the operatives of the agency had beat up a squadron commander of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) on the premises of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos.

The DSS officers beat up the NCoS senior officer when he tried to resist their attempt to take the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, from him.

The operatives brazenly manhandled the senior correctional officer in whose custody Justice Nicholas Oweibo had ruled that the former CBN governor should be, pending the perfection of his N20 million bail for alleged illegal possession of firearms.

The incident was not the first time the agency exhibited its disrespect for the judiciary and human rights.

President Tinubu had in his first meeting with the Service Chiefs and heads of security and intelligence agencies, warned them against working at cross purposes.

However, Tinubu’s warning did not deter the previous leadership of the DSS from condoning and encouraging acts of impunity and inter-agency rivalry. 

The operatives of the agency had earlier on May 30, 2023 stormed the Ikoyi, Lagos office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and prevented officials of the commission from gaining access in what many described as a show of its superior fire power.

DSS operatives had also stormed the Asokoro, Abuja residence of a former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) in November 2015 and laid a siege for 25 days until he was rearrested, after Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court had on November 3, 2015 granted his request for his travel document to be released in order for him to travel abroad to take care of his deteriorating health.

Masked operatives of the agency had also barricaded the gates to the National Assembly complex and shut out lawmakers in August 2018.

This act of disrespect for the legislative arm of government prompted the then Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to sack the then-Director General of the DSS, Lawal Daura.

DSS operatives had also stormed Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu’s Federal High Court in Abuja to re-arrest the former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore in December 2019, less than 24 hours after the judge had released him from illegal custody.

The operatives of the secret police had also invaded the homes of judges and justices of the Supreme Court in 2016 and 2017, in an alleged bid to intimidate and cow the judiciary.

Due to the notoriety of the DSS for human rights abuses and impunity, it was surprising to many Nigerians when the current leadership of the agency chose the responsible option of dragging Utomi to court rather than resorting to his arrest and illegal detention.

The revered economist and political activist incurred the ire of the secret police when he announced the formation of a shadow government designed to serve as a credible opposition to President Tinubu’s administration.

The initiative, which he described as a “national emergency response”, was launched virtually in May under the banner of the ‘Big Tent Coalition Shadow Government’ to scrutinise government actions, identify policy failures, and propose alternative solutions in key areas, including the economy, education, healthcare, infrastructure, law and order, and constitutional reform.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, was quoted as describing the shadow government as an “aberration” especially “at a time when our nation is set to celebrate 26 unbroken years of presidential democracy.”

But rather than resorting to its obnoxious culture of arbitrary arrests, illegal detentions and slamming trumped-up charges against the promoters of the shadow government, DSS dragged Utomi to court.

In the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/937/2025, filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, the DSS alleged that Utomi’s actions posed a threat to national security and constitutional order.

Utomi, the 2007 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress was named as the sole defendant in the suit.

The suit, which was filed through a team of lawyers led by Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), claimed that the shadow government was operating an alternative government, contrary to the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

DSS also later approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, praying it to restrain Utomi from making public comments or engaging in any form of rally, relating to his announced plan to establish a shadow government in the country.

In a fresh application filed through its team of lawyers led by Mr. Kehinde (SAN), DSS told the court that it got an intelligence that Utomi had concluded plans to return to Nigeria on June 6 to engage in protests, road shows and media interviews.

Consequently, DSS prayed 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 programmes, jingles or any other public enlightenment programme (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 the substantive suit.”

Many Nigerians believe that if Utomi had embarked on his democratic journey under the previous despotic leadership of the DSS, the secret police would have clamped down on him and other promoters, and also hung trumped-up charges on their necks.

The current leadership of the DSS led by Mr. Oluwatosin Ajayi deserves commendation for the agency’s responsible approach to the issue of shadow government.

DSS should apply this commendable rule of engagement to the less-privileged in the society to demonstrate that all citizens are truly equal before the law.

What is good for the highly-placed Nigerians is also good for the less-privileged Nigerians, including the likes of the factional President of the National Association of the Nigerian Students (NANS), Atiku Abubakar Isah, who, according to a media report, was allegedly detained by the agency and initially denied access to his family and lawyers.