If you have been a Uite for the past five sessions, you would have attended at most four editions of Jaw War. That is if the public speaking frenzy in UI has caught up with you. But if you are a Zikite, there is a high likelihood that you have not attended beyond the quarterfinal stages of the editions you’ve attended.
This assumption is not without reason. In the past four editions, Zik hall has consistently faced a brick wall in the quarterfinal stages of Jaw War. And since the average Zikite attendant at Jaw War goes to support Baluba kingdom, there is hardly any point showing up after Zik hall crashes out.
A little bit of history is necessary here. In this session’s Jaw War, Zik hall faced Queens hall in the first round. But it wasn’t the first time in recent memory that the Queenites will go toe to toe with us. In 2017, Zik hall was tied with Queens hall in the first round. It took the immaculate effort of Asudemade Habeebullah, who has once been tagged by campus media as the crowd’s favourite among UI public speakers, and Awe Tomisin for Zik hall to qualify as the best loser into the quarterfinal round after being resoundingly thrashed by Queens hall in the first and second leg. Unfortunately we went on to face the Queenites again in the quarterfinal and it was the same story.
The following year, under the leadership of Asudemade Habeebullah, we went against Indy hall and we knocked out our close rival in the first round. On qualifying to the next round, Tedder hall terminated our journey that year, and yet again the quarterfinal was our quagmire.
The following year, the L and D roused again, this time led by Awe Tomisin. Once more we were tied against Queens hall. Smarting from the wounds of the triad of defeats back in 2017, the combinations of Bodunde Ebenezer and Olatunji Vincent in the first leg, and Asudemade Habeebullah and Ogbonna Chiziterem in the second leg, ensured that Queens hall got an early exit from Jaw War 2019.
But yet again, we met our waterloo in the quarterfinal round against ABH. Scenes where our first speaker forgot his speech at the Social Sciences LLT in the face of torchlights from the audience’s phones to light up the venue due to a power outage still haunts the memory of Zik hall’s L and D members.
Skipping 2020 for obvious reasons, Zik hall L and D proceeded into Jaw War 2021 with Chiziterem Ogbonna as its head. In one of the most controversial first rounds of the hall category in Jaw War’s recent history, trailed by poor sound systems and inconsistent judging of speeches, we dramatically beat Bello hall, acclaimed the stronghold of public speaking in UI (hardly so today). This was until a day after, when the results were reversed. We however ventured on after Bello L and D unceremoniously pulled out of Jaw War. Facing ABH again in the quarterfinals, history repeated itself and we capitulated.
At this point, the jinx was confirmed. Jaw War’s quarterfinal is the best of Zik hall’s L and D. One might even wonder why our first round opponents don’t use this trend against us in Jaw War banters. Considerably, this trend has informed the spite against Zik hall’s public speaking competence and dismissive projections about Zik hall’s fate in Jaw War.
But has Zik hall’s public speaking state always been this way? Until 2018, Zik hall had always hosted its own public speaking programme tagged “Clash of Sages”, like Bello hall’s “Armoury of Words”, Tedder hall’s “King of the Podium” and Idia hall’s “Clash of Divas.” Our Clash of Sages was so pronounced that it featured inter-varsity debates and was held at Trenchard, an enviable feat by one constituency of TLDS.
Apart from this, Zik hall’s events used to be customarily spiced by public speaking. Fresher’s welcome featured public speaking, hall weeks included inter-hall debates. In fact the L ad D itself held in-house competitions to prep its new recruits for inter-hall outings. During Awe Tomisin’s regime in 2019, intra-hall debate competitions were held including an in-house competition and an inter-floor debate.
Today, there is a noticeable decline in Zik hall’s public speaking life. The L and D no longer features in the hall’s events. An instance was during the tradition week organized by the Executive Council that included a debate that never happened. In-house competitions are a thing of the past and a once renown signature event of the L and D, Clash of Sages, has become a Zik hall relic that is hardly remembered.
It is therefore incongruous that in spite of Zik hall’s infamous trend at Jaw War the incumbent L and D President remains unfazed with his persistent declaration that we will win the keenly contested competition. Perhaps the herculean nature of bringing this to fruition is not fully appreciated. The hall’s public speaking life lacks the vitality it once exudes. Public speaking events leading up to Jaw War as a preparatory process never occurred. Throw in the fact that other constituencies that we might face like Tedder and Awo are UI’s public speaking giants. How confident then should the L and D president be?
On Thursday, Zik hall will take on the task of breaking its 4 year-old Jaw War quarterfinal jinx. Habeebullah attempted it in 2018, Tomisin tried it in 2019, Chiziterem ventured in 2021. In 2023 it is Ajibola Omotayo’s turn.
