Economist and political activist, Professor Pat Utomi has said he is not afraid of death following threats by the Department of State Security (DSS) after he unveiled the Shadow Government.
News Band reported that the secret police responded defiantly to the political development by filing a law suit against him.
Earlier this month, Utomi unveiled the Big Tent Coalition Shadow Government, a body composed of members from various opposition parties, aimed at providing an alternative voice to the Bola Tinubu-led administration.
The group, according to Utomi, intends to monitor government actions, highlight policy failures, and propose reforms in critical sectors such as the economy, education, healthcare, law enforcement, infrastructure, and constitutional matters.
But speaking with PUNCH Newspaper during an interview, Utomi appeared unperturbed by DSS threats.
When he was asked to react to the law suit brought against him by the DSS, Utomi said: “There is nothing to react to. It is not funny that citizens are getting together to organise themselves on how to hold governments accountable and provide alternative ideas on how to do things, and they decided that it is a matter for the DSS. It shows that there is a dearth of freedom.
Also, when he was asked if he has responded to the suit, Utomi stated: “I have not received anything from them. How would I respond to something I have not received?
Speaking further during the interview, when he was asked if he felt threatened by the DSS move, the 2007 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress said: “Why would I be threatened? If we die, we die”.
Though, apart from the DSS, the Federal Government and the APC have argued that the shadow government has no legal or constitutional backing in Nigeria’s federal system.
But responding to that argument, Professor Utomi 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?”.
