DSS Asks Court To Bar Utomi From Shadow Govt Activities
The Department of State Services, DSS, has approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, praying it to restrain a former presidential candidate, Prof. Patrick 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.
The security agency had accused Utomi who was the candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, in the 2007 presidential election, of attempting to illegally usurp the executive powers of President Bola Tinubu.
In a fresh application it filed on Wednesday, through its team of lawyers led by Mr. Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, DSS told the court that it got an intelligence that the defendant, Utomi, who is currently outside the country, has concluded plans to return on June 6 to engage in protests, road shows and media interviews.
It argued that the planned activities were aimed to instigate citizens, in furtherance of the defendant’s bid to establish an illegitimate government, an issue that is the subject matter of a suit that is pending before the court.
Consequently, it 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 programs, 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.”
According to the Applicant, if not restrained, Utomi’s proposed rallies, road shows and actions, would “constitute a serious threat to the public order, safety and national unity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The Applicant identified itself as the agency statutorily empowered to safeguard the internal security of the country and prevent threats to lawful authority of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and its constituent institutions.
It told the court that it was incumbent on it to forstal any threat to public order, safety and national unity.
The agency said it gathered through monitoring and intelligence reports, that Utomi would return to the country “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.”
It told the court that Utomi’s intention is to stage road shows and rallies “that are capable of drawing a large number of Nigerians with intent that will cause huge disruption of peace, breakdown of public order, enable riots and violent protests just as the recent ‘End SARS’ protests in 2020.”
In an affidavit attached in support of the application, the DSS told the court that: “All the planned protests, riots and agitations that will ensue, if the purported actions of the defendant/respondent are not stayed, may lead to mayhem with a potential for anarchy, toss of lives and property.
“The proposed allies, road shows and actions of the Defendant/Respondent constitutes a serious threat to the public order, safety and national unity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
More so, it told the court that on May 26, during the fourth edition of the Topaz Lecture Series, themed “Shadow Government: A Distraction or Necessity,” hosted by the University of Lagos (UNILAG) Mass Communication Class of 1988 Alumni Association, Utomi, made statements that were capable of undermining the pending suit.
It added that in the statements, widely publicised by various national newspapers and on social media platforms, Utomi, defended the creation of the purported shadow government and further stated that if the suit succeeds in favour of the SSS, himself and his group would adopt a different name.