Sir Chijioke Precious Emeka, SAN, has been presented with an award in recognition of his support, sponsorship and contribution to the Inter-Chamber Moot Court Competition named in his honour, at the conclusion of the competition’s grand finale at the Faculty of Law, Bayero University, Kano, on Thursday, 24 September 2026.
![](https://thenigerialawyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/2026-IDRI-Masterclass.png")
The competition was organised by the Law Students’ Association of Nigeria, Bayero University Kano Chapter, under the administration of its President, Mr. Abdulfatah Hilal Tahir, with the supervision and guidance of the Dean of the Faculty, Professor Abubakar Isa Umar.
The Final
The grand finale, held at the Faculty of Law Courtroom, brought together students, members of the academic community, legal practitioners, invited dignitaries and other stakeholders, at the end of weeks of preparation, research, written advocacy and oral submissions.
The final contest featured Equity Chambers and Liberty Chambers, which had come through the earlier stages of the competition in which participating chambers battled through successive rounds for a place in the final.
Counsel were required to demonstrate not only knowledge of the law but also the ability to identify legal issues, construct persuasive arguments, respond to opposing submissions and present their cases with the decorum expected of members of the legal profession.
The Bench
The proceedings were presided over by three members of the Nigerian Bar Association, Kano Branch: Ms. Rahama Muhammad Ahmad, Mr. Mubarak Abubakar and Mr. Mustapha Saleh.
View this post on Instagram
The Awards
The final proceedings were followed by an award ceremony at which outstanding participants and contributors were recognised.
The Best Mooter Award went to Mr. Rasheed Kabir Rasheed. The Best Oralist Award was won by Ms. Fatima Saka Ahmed. Ms. Amina Mayaki received the award for Outstanding Junior Counsel, and Mr. Agari Umar-Farouq Monday was named Best Advocate.
An award was also presented to the competition’s sponsor in appreciation of his support and contribution to its success.
According to the organisers, the recognition of individual performances was deliberate, because moot court competitions are not solely about determining a winning team. They are also opportunities to identify and encourage students who demonstrate exceptional ability in oral advocacy, written submissions, legal analysis and courtroom presentation.
Advocacy Beyond The Classroom
The organisers said the competition was conceived as more than an academic contest, and was intended as a practical platform through which students could translate classroom learning into courtroom advocacy, develop confidence in legal argument, and experience the discipline and demands of legal practice in a simulated environment.
Participants were expected to approach the exercise as counsel would approach a real proceeding, examining the facts, identifying the issues, researching applicable authorities, preparing written submissions and presenting oral arguments before the court.
The exercise, they said, demanded teamwork, time management, legal research, strategic thinking and the confidence to defend a position before a courtroom, and exposed competitors to the reality that advocacy extends beyond the recitation of authorities to become an exercise in disciplined persuasion.
Mentorship And Sponsorship
The organisers said the decision to name the competition after the senior advocate was not merely ceremonial, but an acknowledgement of the importance of practitioners investing in the next generation of lawyers and creating opportunities through which aspiring advocates can acquire practical skills before entering professional practice.
They said the sponsorship served as a reminder that the development of future members of the Bar is a collective responsibility requiring the involvement of universities, professional bodies, practising lawyers, alumni and student organisations, and that at a time when legal education increasingly demands greater emphasis on practical skills, initiatives exposing students to advocacy, legal research, drafting and courtroom presentation remain particularly significant.
Student Leadership
The organisers said the competition underscored the role that student-led professional bodies can play in strengthening legal education, demonstrating that student leadership can extend beyond representation and welfare to structured initiatives aimed at academic development, professional preparation and mentorship.
They noted that the competition was significant against the background of the university’s established record of producing students who participate in national and international advocacy competitions, the institution having previously recognised outstanding Faculty of Law students for their performances in international moots.
The competition, they said, added an internal platform on which students could sharpen their skills while competing against their peers.
“A Practical Laboratory”
Reflecting on the exercise, the organisers described a moot court as fundamentally a simulation whose skills are nonetheless real.
A student who learns to construct a coherent legal argument, distinguish authorities, respond to questions from the bench, work collaboratively with other counsel and present submissions with confidence, they said, is acquiring skills that remain valuable long after graduation.
The competition, they added, allowed students to make mistakes in a controlled environment, learn from them and improve, while encouraging intellectual competition and reinforcing the values of preparation, professionalism, discipline and respect for the judicial process.
The value of an exercise of this kind is easy to overstate in ceremonial language and easy to underrate in practice, and it is worth putting plainly.
Nigerian legal education is divided between an academic stage at the university and a vocational stage at the Nigerian Law School, and the persistent complaint about the first is that it produces graduates who know the law and cannot use it. A student may leave a faculty having never stood to address a bench, never drafted a brief that another person was trying to defeat, and never been interrupted mid-submission by a question he had not anticipated. Those are the three experiences that distinguish an advocate from a person who has read about advocacy, and a moot supplies all three at no risk to a client.
The structure adopted here is also worth noting. An inter-chamber format, in which the competition runs between the faculty’s own chambers over successive rounds rather than as a single showcase event, produces repeated exposure rather than one performance, and reaches students who would never be selected for an international delegation. That is the difference between a competition designed to represent an institution and one designed to train its students, and the two objectives are not the same.
The presence of practising members of the Kano Branch on the bench is the element most likely to determine whether the exercise lands. A student argues differently before practitioners than before peers, and a question from someone who has actually taken a bad point in front of a judge carries a lesson that no marking scheme conveys. It also establishes, early, the relationship between the Bar and the students who will join it, which is the collective responsibility the organisers describe.
On sponsorship, the point made in the account deserves to be taken seriously rather than read as courtesy. Practical legal education costs money that faculties largely do not have, and moots in particular require problem-setting, judging time, materials and logistics. Where a practitioner funds that, the result is not a plaque but a programme that runs, and the argument for more such arrangements is a practical one rather than a sentimental one.
[A MUST HAVE] Evidence Act Demystified With Recent And Contemporary Cases And Materials
Available now for NGN 40,000 at ASC Publications, 10, Boyle Street, Onikan, Lagos. Beside High Court, TBS. Email publications@ayindesanni.com or WhatsApp +2347056667384. Purchase Link: https://paystack.com/buy/evidence-act-complete-annotation
______________________________________________________________________ “Enhance Legal Practice With Authoritative Reports” — Alexander Payne Offers Comprehensive Law Reports, Spanning Over A Century Of Nigerian Jurisprudence
Interested buyers are encouraged to place their orders and enquiries via:
0704 444 4777, 0704 444 4999, 0818 199 9888
Website: www.alexandernigeria.com
