After the Nigerian President, Bala AhmedTinubu marked his one year in Office on May 29th, 2024, the secretary of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) Chief Peter Ameh, having X-rayed the administration in terms of its relationship with the legislature, concluded that separation of powers have been erased.
Speaking in an interview with the Guardian on Saturday, Chief Ameh observed saying,
“The impact of President, his vice and several other cabinet members with legislative backgrounds on the governance of the country and on the other hand the relationship between the executive and legislative arms of government has erased separation of powers and driven legislative oversight into a none-existent state.
According to him, the one year of Tinubu’s government is close to an unmitigated disaster, just like that of Buhari.
“This disaster is a result of the twin evil of ‘subsidy is gone and naira floatation.’
Rhetorically, he asked to know how to measure the impact of a government on the citizenry?
“We have always believed that it is by the quality and quantity of life of the majority of the people, and in the case of Tinubu, are Nigerians better off than they were a year ago?, the answer is in the absolute negative.
“Lives of Nigerian citizens have become something close to the biblical passage of passing through the valley of the shadow of death. Businesses are going under, those that have not gone under are retrenching workers at an alarming rate. Others have taken the option of going abroad,
(Ghana) to continue their businesses.
“We now sleep with our two eyes wide open because of insecurity. Interstate movements have become an agonising proposition because of the probability of not getting to our destination in one piece.
Nigerians now walk on the streets with hunger written all over their faces, sometimes sololoquysing, one square meal has become a luxury and an abstract concept.
“Our markets are now saturated with unsold goods because the little funds in their pockets can no longer purchase anything of significance to feed a single mouth.
“Farmers no longer go to farm because those that went before now have either been killed or in the custody of their abductors. The out of school dropouts are on the rise as a result of the inability of their parents to pay the increased school fees.”
He however, reminded the President that in the presidential system of government, the buck stops at the table of the president, as all the other cabinet members serve at the pleasure of the president.
He pointed out that the government of President Tinubu is populated by people who have performed below average in their various ministries except the FCT who has transformed Abuja and the Minister of Aviation who is putting local Airlines in charge of our Air transport services, who have been up and running in their assignments.
“As for the Vice President, he has offered and shown himself to be a loyal Vice considering the circumstances he has found himself. The president should rejig his his cabinet, drop those who do not know why they were appointed ministers in the first place.”
He described the relationship between the executive and the legislators in the Tinubu’s administration as not only cordial but that of master and servant relationship.
“It is as if it is still a continuation of the second term of President Buhari’s presidency when every bill, proposal, and request were passed without scrutiny and input from the legislators.
“The concept of separation of powers demands that the legislature acts as a check on the executive to prevent the tyranny, which we are beginning to see in this government.
“A typical example is the ongoing Lagos- Calabar Coastal Highway, where no appropriation was made for it in the 2024 Appropriation Act.
“For our democracy to inch forward, Our Parliament or National Assembly must fight for its independence and free itself from the apron strings of the executives.”