The Doctrine of Separation of Powers And The Illusion of ‘Separateness’: Core Legal Dilemmas Under Nigeria’s Constitutional Democracy

This Paper examines the doctrine of Separation of powers and its complicatedness as regards its practice in Nigeria‟s Constitutional democracy. Drawing from historical insights and Nigeria‟s constitutional model, and the of the practice in Nigeria‟s constitutional democracy, this Paper makes the case that given that the doctrine has been heavily eroded so much so that instead of „separation‟ what obtains practically speaking is nothing but „fusion‟ particularly as it relates to the Executive and the Legislature, the doctrine operates in more of a dilemmatic situation. This Paper however offers a flicker of hope by pointing to the fact that all hope does not appear lost, as the Judiciary still maintains some level of „separateness‟, except that only time will tell as to how much this lasts.