THE REALITY OF SEPARATION OF POWERS IN PRESIDENT BUHARI’S ADMINISTRATION
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
There is no gainsaying the fact that the famous doctrine or principle of separation of powers is as old as man, what we are saying in essence is that, separation of powers has been in existence since man came to the society. It is apposite to state that the doctrine of separation of powers was in existence arid strictly observed in this country before the advent of the British. This foregoing position can be demonstrated when a recourse is made to the old Oyo empire, where there were in existence the Alarm, Oyo Mesi, the Ogboni among other traditional title holders who took charge of the administration of the said empire. There was a manifest undoubted separation of powers between the Alafin who was the head, the Oyo Mesi, and the Ogboni, this brought about the necessary checks and balances, so that power is not concentrated in the hands of the Alafin, which is capable of being misused or abused.
The doctrine of separation of powers as practiced by the then Oyo- empire was premised on the YORUBA Adage which say that:
(I) AgbajowoLafinsoya, ajejeowokankogberu don. (ii) Akil fee mefiLabaAlade — enifojesukonimumi. (iii) Enikankiijeawade, Igikankole da igbo Se.
Meaning that, no man is an island to himself and cannot be all in all. The point we are trying to drive home is that, the principle of separation of Powers is not strange to the African society and therefore, the principle cannotbe said to be imbibed or imported from the white man but in its formalized theoretical notion it is an imported value into our body polity.
The significance of good governance in any given nation cannot be underestimated. Therefore, the essence of governance is to ensure the development of every sector of the national entity. To this end, every emerging and successive government formulates policies in order to reform the political, economic, cultural and social structures. Irrespective of reformed policies, they are primarily intended to ensure the uplift of the societies in all ramifications-education, health, transportation, etc. Hence, considering the significance and how vital reform policies are made, they attempt to meet the needs and aspirations of the people of a particular country as instituted by existing government.
The military regime did not help matters when it postponed severally the return to civilian rule in Nigeria. Many people were of the view that the worst civilian administration is better than enlightened military dictatorship.
From the 1960s, when Nigeria gained her independence, development plans of varying durations were launched. The Nigerian leaders were aware that political independence without economic independence would endanger the country’s sovereignty. Hence, they were out to protect this hard won sovereignty as well as give their people the best. The major initiative and plans fell on governments for national economic and social development.
According to Otese Simon, the economic situation of the country prior to Buhari’s administration, could be said to be a period when the political leaders of newly won independence sought to consolidate their hold on power, and not actually doing the peoples biddings. It was a period of scramble for power and political positions at the expense of the nation’s real economic needs.
