Conceptual Clarification and Historical Foundation of the Roles of Judiciary in Promoting Democratic Governance in Nigeria

Democracy is basically characterised by three independent organs of government, namely; the Legislative, the Executive and the Judicial organ. While the Legislature is saddled with the responsibility of making laws for the smooth running of the State, the Executive is charged with the implementation of the laws so made by the legislature and the Judiciary is to interpret the laws in consonance with the dictate letter of the Constitution and settle disputes. The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria through its principle of separation of powers affords the independence of the judiciary. The judiciary hold a unique duty to interpret the provisions of the law when they are in question, hence the court is said to be the last hope of the common man. The idea of an autochthonous constitution and constitutionalism is yet another pivotal principle that is inevitable in the actual practice of democratic government. Constitutionalism, however, emphasises the adherence to the wording of the constitution. It connotes the practice where the affairs of the state are operated in conformity with the dictate letters of the constitution. Basically this work adopted purposeful efforts to appraise the concept of constitutionalism and capture its salient features not merely as an imposition of limitation on the exercise of power, but also as a mechanism for accountable and developmental exercise of power. Pursuant to the foregoing, the object of this work is principally in three phases. Firstly, to appraise the judiciary as an organ of government, vis-a-vis the Nigeria legal system. Secondly, the work examined the concept of constitutionalism in contemporary society and how the courts had reacted to it in the last year of democracy. Lastly the work gave a comprehensive analysis of the problems inherent in the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigerian. The work concluded by evaluating the concept of constitutionalism with the instrumentality of the concept of impeachment and separation of power, and recommended among others that notwithstanding the political nature of impeachment, due process must be followed and court should be assertive on whether or not due process was observed.