Justiciability theory versus political question doctrine: challenges of the Nigerian judiciary in the determination of electoral and other related cases

The debate has been on for a while on the desirability or otherwise of allowing the court to determine all legal questions brought before it regardless of whether such questions involve political questions or not. One side of the argument posits that the court should stay clear of what is wellknown as ‘political questions’ as this would be better decided by the concerned coordinate arms of government; while the other side contends that it would amount to abdication of judicial responsibilities for judges to shy away from determining a legal question properly brought before them all because such question involves a political question. This leads to the question: how do we reconcile the political question doctrine with the justiciability theory? This paper seeks to answer this question. The paper examines the current position of the Nigerian Judiciary on the political question doctrine and the justiciability principle, arguing that Nigerian courts have moved away from their restrictive approach to the interpretation of section 6(6) (b) of the 1999 Constitution to a permissive approach wherein a wide number of cases involving political questions are now decided. It is concluded that little is now left of the political question doctrine in Nigeria.