OAU STUDENTS WINS CHIEF WOLE MOCK COMPETION

Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU law students
won Chief Wole.  Olanipekun National Moot & Mock
Competition – 2014 Edition.
The Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife,
Osun State, has lifted the 4th edition of the Chief
Wole Olanipekun National Moot & Mock
Competition.
The two-day competition organised annually in
honour of Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), a former
President, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), featured
intense stages of Moot, Debate and the grand
finale, Mock Trial.
The OAU edged out the University of Ilorin and four
others – University of Abuja, Lagos State
University, Babcock University, and Nnamdi
Azikiwe University, Awka, to win the prize.
The six schools were the ones that scaled through
preliminaries of the competition nationwide. Of
these, four schools progressed from the Moot Stage
to the debate stage. Two schools were further
eliminated at the debate stage leaving the last two,
the host school – OAU and the University of Ilorin –
to slug it out at the grand finale which was a mock
armed robbery trial in a fashioned court setting.
The representatives of the Obafemi Awolowo
University eventually proved too much for their
UNILORIN counterparts and the former were
unanimously declared winners of the competition by
the panel of judges that presided.
The event, organised by Radiant Justice Chambers,
a student body in the university’s Faculty of Law,
was graced by seasoned legal professionals,
including the Executive Governor of Osun State,
Rauf Aregbesola, who was represented by his
Senior Special Adviser on Legal Matters, Dr. Anwo
J.O; the Acting Chief Justice of Oyo State, Hon.
Justice L.M. Abimbola; Dean Faculty of Law, OAU,
Prof. M.O Adediran; Justice Adebusoye from the
Ondo State Judiciary and a host of others.

The Mock Trial was presided over by sitting judges:
Hon Justice D.O. Afolabi, Hon. Justice O.F. Oloyede,
Hon. Justice Siyanbola from the Osun State
Judiciary and Hon. Justice Ganiyu from the Oyo
State judiciary.
Speaking at the event, Chief Olanipekun praised his
former classmate and friend, Dean of the Faculty of
Law, OAU, Prof. M.O Adediran for his top-notch
administration of the faculty as manifested in the
quality of its graduates.
He praised the brilliant display of the competing
students at the mock trial and urged them not rest
on their oars as it would eventually pay off in future.
The Chairman of the Day, Hon. Justice L.M.
Abimbola, praised Olanipekun for his immense
contributions to the advancement of the legal
system and legal education in the country.
Abimbola also praised the Radiant Justice
Chambers for the ingenious initiative behind the
annual hosting of the programme.
The event rounded off with the presentation of
laptops and cash prizes to the representatives of
OAU and UNILORIN by Olanipekun.

Three students, Samuel C. Chukwu (UNIABUJA),
Zuqulnain Muhammed Dayo (UNILORIN) and
Olugbemi Kayode (OAU), who emerged as
Outstanding Counsels from the Moot Stages were
given with monetary prizes for their performances.
Delegates of Babcock University and OAU were tied
for the Best Moot Memorial prize.