Former presidential candidate, Pat Utomi, has dismissed claims of being threatened by the Department of State Service (DSS) accusation of attempting to illegally usurp President Bola Tinubu’s executive powers by setting up a shadow government.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/937/2025, was filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, and the DSS alleges that Utomi’s actions represent a significant threat to national security and the constitutional order of Nigeria.

In an interview with Punch, Utomi stated he has not received any suit from the DSS.

He said, “I have not received anything from them. How would I respond to something I have not received? Why would I be threatened? If we die, we die.”

Speaking on the Federal Government and the All Progressives Congress (APC) argument that the shadow government has no legal or constitutional backing in Nigeria’s federal system, Utomi said they are playing with semantics.

Utomi recalled how the APC threatened former President, Goodluck Jonathan with the formation of a parallel government, stressing that the shadow government aims to stop the system from collapsing.

Utomi maintained that they are not threatening to form a parallel government like the APC threatened when they were in opposition.

He added, “They ought to go back and read the 1999 Constitution. They are playing with semantics, not with the reality of what is being proposed. The name, “shadow” was used for the coalition. There is also the freedom of people in a democracy to associate and call themselves whatever they want. By the way, recall that when Goodluck Jonathan was President, this same group of people in power today threatened to form a parallel government. We are not threatening to form a parallel government. We are simply saying that the political party system is failing Nigeria; it’s almost a total collapse. People are jumping from one party to another. Once they have committed enough sins, they join the ruling party so that their sins can be forgiven or their elections can be guaranteed from rigging.

“Because that system is collapsing, citizens are making moves to ensure that the functions of government do not suffer. So, they try to get together and call themselves a shadow team, but the government begins to say it is not in the constitution. Which constitution is against the people getting together to say, “We will brainstorm on how we are being governed?” People are telling the government that there is a different way to do things and make them better. The government’s reaction shows that they have something they are scared of. They are scared of the Nigerian people. We have reached the point where the government is not scared of the political structure, because they know they can buy everybody.

“I thought the government would welcome our idea, because that was the most intelligent thing to do. But I began to hear all this panic, and the boys who yesterday spoke differently in my presence went on television and spoke without character against me. My heart breaks for Nigeria and for the future of our country.

“We are not threatening to form a parallel government like the APC threatened when they were in opposition. We are citizens who want to associate because political parties are failing us, and there is the need to speak up for ourselves instead of waiting for the political parties to do so. So, when did that begin to get into the constitution?”