John Taiwo

The Union of Campus Journalists, University of Ibadan, on Saturday 24th of February, 2024, held the final round of her annual Prof. Francis Egbokhare Inter-Press Debate Competition at the First Bank lecture theatre, Faculty of Agriculture.

The debate which was incorporated in the unions’ induction ceremony for new members witnessed Clinical Sciences Press against FATSSA Press at the faculty category, and Indy Press versus ABH Press at the hall category. The contest took an Australasian Debating Style with three contestants representing each LPO.

For each category, the contestants spoke on a given scope as contained in an info slide, which for the faculty streams reads: “Criminal trials typically end in one of two verdicts “guilty ” or” not guilty“. Under Scots law there exists a third verdict → “not proven“. This is typically used to indicate the jury or judge believes the defendant could potentially be guilty, but there is no sufficient evidence to convict. In a “not proven” verdict, the prosecutor has the option to retry a case, while this is not possible in a “not guilty” decision.)”

For the hall stream, the contestants spoke on the issue of “overstat(e)ing the impact of minority forces (Japanese American 442nd Battalion during WW2, Russia’s Women’s Battalion of Death during WW1, 4th Indian Infantry Division during WW2) in wars, even at the cost of historical accuracy” with Indy Press speaking for and ABH Press speaking against the motion.