The Federal High Court in Abuja has issued a perpetual injunction stopping Professor Pat Utomi and his associates from attempting to create what they called a “shadow government” in Nigeria – www.naijnaira.com reports.
Justice James Omotosho, delivering judgment on the case filed by the Department of State Services (DSS), said the idea directly conflicts with the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the court held that nothing in the nation’s supreme law gives room for such a body to exist.
“The Nigerian constitution makes no room for shadow government,” the judge declared, describing the plan as a dangerous attempt to establish a parallel authority.
He stressed that Nigeria’s presidential system, borrowed from the United States, has no provision for a shadow cabinet, unlike the parliamentary system in the United Kingdom where opposition parties maintain such structures.
Justice Omotosho agreed with DSS counsel Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, that the project was a threat to national security and could incite unrest. He warned that freedom of association and expression cannot be stretched to cover unlawful activities.
He also faulted the use of “Big Tent Limited,” a company Utomi claimed to be operating through, ruling that a limited liability company cannot serve as a political platform.
The court concluded that forming a shadow government was unconstitutional, null, and void, and permanently restrained Utomi from pursuing the idea any further.
Article updated 5 hours ago. Content is written and modified by multiple authors.
