www.ijird.com February, 2021 Vol 10 Issue 2 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT DOI No. : 10.24940/ijird/2021/v10/i2/FEB21025 Page 172 The Place of Law in the Mirror Game of Politics in Nigeria 1. Introduction Living in the community is the nature of the man. The evidence of this fact can be collected from every part of history and pre-history. Living together has certainly some disadvantages like conflict. People always indulge themselves in to competitions/ race to fulfill the basic needs. Every race should have some rules and regulations. Else we are stirring to the state of nature as articulated by Thomas Hobbes. Therefore, the existence of rules and regulations becomes a sine qua non to the peaceful co-existence of people. Politics tends to involve people of different beliefs, character, thinking and ideology. Due to huge future scope, the study of law and politics has been of great interest to scholars. For instance, an early philosopher Aristotle, asserted the inevitability of the constitutions in the political life of a society. Scholars such as Lasswell (1965); Herman Pritchett et al (1941); Vines (1976); Murphy (1966); and Schubert (1965) have contributed substantially to the study of the courts in politics (cited in Becker, 1970). 2. Conceptual Interpretations Various communities, scholars have defined Law in different manners. For William (1977), it is a specification about right and wrong. Davidson (1998:3) called it a set of rules need to be conducted by the members of the society. It helps to reflect choices and willingness. Law helps to define arrangement that coordinates or confines people’s behaviours. It provides a risk of sanctions against disobedient behaviours (Lawal, 2010). It is also pertinent to state briefly some of the code of conduct for the judiciary officers which is independent, strong, respected and respectable judiciary, should be indispensable for the impartial administration of justice in a democratic state, should also be actively participate, maintaining, enforcing, and himself observing a high standard of conduct so that the integrity and respect for the independence of the judiciary may be preserved, all duties of his office prescribed by law, take precedence over all his other activities which of course needs to be reviewed.(Code of conduct for Judiciary officer). On the other hand, Politics can be defined in various ways but for the purpose of this study, Politics is viewed as the struggle to obtain, maintain and retain power. This struggle is further regulated by law, so as to avoid and reduce conflict and violence which is bound to be generated by this struggle. In addition to that, Harold Lasswell’s definition of politics which is ‘who gets what, when and how’, suits into the study. Politics in Nigeria is therefore summarized as a survival of the fittest as drawn from the above definitions, the most powerful gets to whatever and wherever dimed fit in the society without fear or sanction from the law. Law and politics as social phenomena are two releases of the same entity (a monistic ontological conception) (Miro Cerar, 2009). The relationship between politics and law has both a progressive function and a safeguarding function. Therefore, the ability of the law to surpass political games in Nigeria lies on the ISSN 2278 – 0211 (Online) Kingsley Chinonso Mark Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria Chinwe Mariaceline Eze Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria Abstract: The association between law and politics has been taken for granted in Nigerian law. Mostly, the political considerations have dominated the legal decisions in Nigeria. Law was conceived as something that should map out the way and means of peaceful co-existence, progress and development of the society under a uniform of rule-guided system. The paper having made use of the complex triangulation and combination of Elite, Games and Marxist theory which has profound impact on sociological thoughts about power and social organizations of human beings visa-viz their relationship in the society. It argues that over the years in Nigeria, law has progressively developed and metamorphosed to having so many faces and has produced different results. These results are negative and positives in most cases. It is on this note that the paper examines the stance of law in the game of politics in Nigeria. While suggesting that time has come to enhance the requirements and position of law in order to give politics and governance a new face in Nigeria. Keywords: Law, application of law, politics, game of politics, state of the nation