The War Between 500level And 400level.

The battle between 500level and their compatriots in penultimate year is at its peak again.

This time, the struggle is for the coveted title of 'Advocatus Superior'

The moot (and mock) competition was scheduled to commence by 10am but unfortunately due to 'unforseen' (aka no venue) circumstances started finally by somewhere around 12pm.

The synopsis of the brief tells of a man (the principal) who wanted to sell a piece of his land and goes on to hire the services of a third party (agent) to help him so do, within six months. But before the expiry of the aforementioned time span, the man goes on to sell his property to another, unknown to the agent, who also goes on to sell too, to another party.

The issue in dispute was thus whether or not, the sale by the owner was valid or the sale by the agent.

The Judges for the proceedings were - Awesome Ojeah-Presiding judge (500level), Beverly Aziengbe.j (400level) and Michael Onoghoroje.j (500level) .

From left to right - Beverly. J; Awesome. J; Michael. J.

while the clerk was the delectable - Princess Aisosa Omoregie.

Clerk- Princess Aisosa Omoregie. 

Counsels for the plaintiff (400level) were - Daniel Odigwe, Akpobome Apughe, Favor Ikhana.

Counsels for defendant (500level) - Efe Ikworia, Arikor Collins, Wignwe Chinwe.

Counsels from both levels.

The venue was - Room 107 (100level class).

The case for the plaintiff was presented first by - Apughe.A, followed by Odigwe D, then finally Ikhana F, who went on to argue articulately, that the case of the defense was notably flawed because of the lack of a deed which was one of the most important elements in a transfer of property of this nature, it was a great point until Beverly.j, pointed out too that the case of plaintiffs too lacked the presence of a deed

Ikhana F, (Best Counsel) arguing her case.

The case for the defense started with  Arikor.C, who stood and introduced his co- counsel Wignwe.C, to lead the charge - she posited that the law is not a father Christmas thus where a principal appoints an agent to act on his behalf, then all actions taken by the agent shall be binding on the principal.

Wignwe.C 

She was then preceded by Ikworia E- who went on to argue whether or not the defense of bona-fide purchaser for value avails the defence counsel.
She also stated the ingredients of a bona-fide purchaser of value without notice (good faith, lack of fraud).

Ikworia. E.

Finally the defense submitted and concluded that, the case of the plaintiff be struck out for lack of merit.


In the end, the judges gave judgment but first they gave their assessment of the counsels.

Onoghoroje.j commended and compared Odigwe to the late Augustus Ceaser, even though he took the long route when there was a shorter one. To Ikhana, he commended her composure and articulation.

He also commended Ikworia, appreciating her astuteness and foresight in pointing out to the court that "furnishing consideration without transfer of documents, does not transfer property".

At the end, he concluded by saying that this was the best advocacy he had seen since he became a judge of the A.C.E Jural court.


Beverly.j, commended all the counsels also, appreciated their enthusiasm but also she scolded them for turning in their memorial late and sternly warned that such it did not repeat itself again.
She then turned her attention to Arikor and reprimanded him, for according to her, he gave the impression that he was here to joke around, because probably he was too familiar with some of the judges, he was not serious at the beginning of his presentation. Arikor apologized for his apparent demeanor and promised to be more amenable subsequently.

Arikor.C. 

With the appraisals out of the way, the judges proceeded to give judgment, the counsels were scored on a couple of qualities, ranging from "application of law to facts", "team work", "advocacy", "diction" amongst a few others.

At the end of the day, by the time the results from all three judges was collated, the defense (500level) won, with a total of seventy two (72) points as against sixty seven (67) scored by their opponents(400level).

The award for the best counsel of the day went to Ikhana F (400level).


However apparently, the result did not go down well with the counsels for 400level and their esteemed supporters as they felt and strongly too that they did way better than their compatriots on the night. There were insinuations, subtle and not too subtle that the judges were slightly bias in their judgment seeing as two out of three of them were from 500level.


ULP took the time out to speak with the judges and some of the counsels on the issue and this what they had to say-

ULP- we've spoken with quite a few people and they are of the opinion that you guys as judges were probably a little prejudiced seeing as it was your class in the competition plus also the fact that someone had already laid a complaint to lawba before now that an external judge be used in the interest of fairness, do you think that play a role the way the judgment went today?

Beverly.j - Well, there's going to be a mock aspect for this same competition, it's going to be on monday (18th January) , for that there's going to be external judges not your traditional "A.C.E" Jural court judges, but with regards to the apparent lopsidedness of the representation of judges, well that's were I come in, Lawba specifically made it mandatory that I sit today, in their bid to even out this perceived lopsidedness, while it's probably not enough, you have to realize too that in the end it's not really their fault for most of the judges, if not all, come from 500level, as a matter of fact, I'm the only judge from 400level, so it would've been impossible to even out the judges.

ULP- it is clear that Lawba was not ignorant as to the possibility of bias and apparently they took steps to that effect, the question now is, were those steps sufficient? Should they not have tried a little bit more probably by making sure that there was a fourth (external) body?

Awesome.j - The appearance of judges and what not, is the duty of LAWBA, it's our duty as judges to uphold integrity, thus there is a reasonable presumption, rebuttable though that, we've upheld our integrity. This kind of questions, is an affront on the integrity of the judges and such is contemptible.



ULP met up with the best counsel for the moot competition and this was her take on the issue.

ULP- Considering the fact you really put a lot work into preparing for this competition how do you feel now that the judgment went in favour of 500level, because we are sure you were expecting a win?

Ikhana - I feel awful! I feel bad and not because 500level won but because we had two judges from that same class, and I was of the opinion that if you really and truly want an impartial judgment, that should not be the case, especially seeing that right from the onset, we had pleaded with Lawba to make sure we had an external judge for the competition, but in the end that did not happen.
ULP- So you are saying that you guys already petitioned Lawba about this issue beforehand?
Ikhana - Yes we did! Repeatedly too.
ULP- So indeed, we can say that the judgments were from a certain level of sentiment, at least to some extent?
Ikhana - Yes! Their failure to approach any of the lecturers other qualified persons is an indictment on their part and clearly shows some kind of ulterior motive.
ULP - Do you think that your winning best counsel was their way of compensation?
Ikhana - Yes! I believe it was their attempt at a consolation of some sort but whatever the purpose was, it really didn't work, because it was glaring, very glaring that we had the award for best counsel in the bag already.



ULP also spoke with Ikworia Efe, one of the counsels for 500level on the issue.

ULP- Considering the fact that there were two judges from your class, people are complaining that sentiments played a part in the judgment going your way, what's your take on that?

Ikworia - Well for me, I believe in every competition there will always be contention as to results because both parties came with the intention to win, still I'd not like a situation where we miss the purpose of this competition, it's not a tussle, we had one judge from 400level too, we can come and argue too that she was bias or that she scored us badly, it's really a two way thing.
On the issue of bringing in judges from outside to an A.C.E Jural court competition, I don't subscribe to that, this judges have gone through the process and they've been vetted as been qualified to act as judges, if anybody has an issue with the competence of any of the judges, he should present his fact, for I believe that there are proper channels to handle such complaints, not to ask that judges be brought to replace these ones, I believe that would be an affront on their capacity as judges. Now I'm not saying that we can't have lecturers or other experienced minds lending a hand once in a while, I'm just saying I'm not in support of it been an express provision that we must get external judges every time there's a competition between certain levels in the Jural court.



ULP and Lawsans take a back seat as we watch this drama unfold, for with regards to the mock aspect of this competition, information reaching ULP indicates that it's going to be presided over by lecturers, most likely - "Mrs Juliet(tort lecturer) and Mrs Iyamu Ojo", this automatically places a lot on the 500level constituency to defeat 400level again, else their cry of foul play begins to hold serious water!


Please note that the mock competition earlier scheduled for the Monday the 18th, has been moved to Tuesday the 26th of January 2016.




Report by gafar and Marthynx.