I was dressed in black shoes, ash trouser, white shirt, ash jacket and a touch of my black blazer thinking I was going to murder the respondents counsel having, a night before written my argument down logically and serially as to how I will present it. The case bothered on law of tort.
I could not sleep all night feeling uneasy as well as excited that I have come to that point when my voice will no longer be heard by my class but by the faculty as a whole. I embarked on searching for judicial punchlines of which I found some and the most interesting was " it is sheer effrontery and vacuous bravado by the....." as was said by olagunju JCA in Achebe vs Nwosu. In fact, this was on of my most expected moments in law faculty.
Prior to the day of the mooting, the class put to vote as to who will represent and I was selected and that's when the sweet dreams and beautiful nightmares started. Three others were also selected and they were all my friends and people with high intellectual proclivity; Ochu Peter, Maduabueke Chidinma Amara , Kene Nnadi . Having this group of persons bothered by my left and right made me confident but anxious, courageous but weak, firm but unstable and.......
I was gingered by the presence of awards such as best counsel, best brief of argument and best dressed and also by the presence of my colleagues who are reckoned intelligible experts in advocacy and learning, and legal artists who can draw the law without an eraser.
Three hours to the most anticipated competition, I was already ready and armed with my well equipped legal arsenal ready to fire left, right, north and center, in fact, I was wallowing in the ignorance of the fact that mooting is a simple task and therefore,i was going to do my thing without much.......anyway, few minutes to the time for the matter to be called up, we were informed that it was canceled, I was happy but sad; wasted nights, wasted anxiety, wasted anticipation etc, but it wasn't canceled again.
I sat at the bar, and took a sharp turn to my left, right and behind and found out that there was a crowd, mainly the year one students, and also, some enemies who could not but wait to see me stutter and fail, I lost courage first, then boldness followed some couple of minutes later. I was practically fidgeting as though I was nokia 3310 receiving an incoming call for he who owns me. A night before I had visited the white house twice as a result of mind upset and the same phase was on the verge of reoccurring(damnit, no white house in the moot court) ,but I packaged myself anyway(like I had a choice not to).
The judge came in looking bright but dreaded, calm but impatient, and the nut in my belly seemed to swell, my heart beat was at 300 beats per second(how possible) and I tried not to look at him and wondered "JOHN, I thought of you as a bold, courageous and fearless person,what happened?"
However, we started, and Kene Nnadi fondly called 'Oputa' after the former justice of the supreme Chukwudifu Oputa took the mantle of leadership and in his usual manner, displayed and showcased the reason behind his 'Oputa' name, his erudition and elocution was awesome, and I must confess, I dream to speak like that and even better sooner than later. He thrashed out the issue he was assigned to handle impeccably.
Maduabueke Chidinma was next, she was the last born of the class as she was young and small in size and description. She did well with little errors as was expected, but she consumed the time allocated for the both of us together alone, and it made my own task more herculean than I conceived it to be because I had to cut short my argument so that Ochu Peter could handle rebuttals.
Finally, it was my turn, and I stood up, greeted the court and then, everything in my head went into a coma, I could barely remember anything, and I proceeded to say anything in my mind, I was bitting round and about the bush, and within me I knew I had messed up, and my dream of any award was gone, and my enemies will finally laugh, and the junior students will be disappointed, more especially, those who elected me to advocate will be disappointed. In fact, when I was done, I bent my head down the table and never wanted to raise it again. Rounds of laughter waas just what was happening behind me as I thought, and I kept asking my colleagues if I did well and they were silent and I knew the shit just got real, they were disappointed as well, who didn't I disappoint that day? NO ONE.
Anyway, I took solace in the fact that it was my first and I was bound to mess up which I did not hesitate to do gallantly and valiantly ,i faked smiles but laughed sincerely at the realization that it isn't as easy as I supposed.
In conclusion, we lost the case, and we received no awards. When the judge gave his judgment, even before he finished, we knew we had lost.......
I can't write everything that happened that day,but at least,i have shared a little of my bore with you, enjoy.
-Okolie-Akirika John
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