From L-Rt:; Adekunle Titus Adeolu, Bamidele Seth Oluwadamilola, Adesokan Adediran, Abiodun Damọla, Lawal Victor, Okewole Oluwadamilola, Olapade Miracle, Akinola Tolulope, with Izuka Oscar-Romero in the middle crouching.
By Udofia Edem Barnabas
The Ayo-Salakos proudly sat in the main hall of the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, awaiting the emergence of distinguished members of their family. Faithful Ayo-Salako and Rehoboth Ayo-Salako were representing Ransome Kuti Hall at the Jaw War final —- the first brother duo to do so in the history of the public speaking event. Great men from Ransome Kuti Hall had arrived in their droves to show support at the venue of the final. Rehoboth’s Ransome Kuti was up against Barnabas’ Bello in what was a Niger Road derby. The events that ensued will go on to cement Kuti Hall’s status as Jaw war heavyweights and serve as the perfect change of guard ceremony for some of the university’s brightest public-speaking generals.
The Leicester era
2016 was a very remarkable year in the world of sports. In that year, LeBron James had delivered the Cleveland Cavaliers’ first NBA Championship after returning from the Miami Heat in 2014. Peyton Manning bowed out in style when he won Super Bowl 50 in the final game of his career. In Rio 2016, Simon Biles became the most decorated female American gymnast of all time, and legendary Michael Phelps bid farewell to the Olympic competition with five gold medals. However, the story of 2016, as it concerns the world of sports, would not be complete without a mention of the greatest football upset in history and perhaps the most remarkable sporting story of all time. Leicester City football club of England, against 5000-1 odds, charged their way unto English Premier League glory in May of that year despite gaining promotion to the top tier in 2014. Barely six months later, Ransome Kuti Hall accomplished a similar feat when the hall defeated next-door neighbours, Bello, to clinch its maiden Jaw war title.
Prior to the excellence that now characterises Kuti, L and D were years of obscurity. In 2016, Bello, alongside Tedder, were Jaw War favourites. In the 2015 first round, Kuti had lost out to Tedder on aggregate after a surprising first-round victory in what was a keenly contested encounter. This first-round defeat in 2015 strengthened the loser tag that had already been associated with Kuti. Although Kuti had a few politicians who were renowned for their good public speaking skills, Kuti Hall’s innate public speaking prowess still remained very much untapped.” Kuti L & D was vibrant during our time, but not with so many persons interested in the organisation. For Olotu, myself and a couple of others, we wanted to put Kuti Hall on the map of relevance as it related to public speaking.” – These were the words of Kuforiji Victor, one of the Kuti Hall Alumni who have been credited for their role in rebuilding the hall’s Literary and Debating Society. Through their influence in the hall at the time, Olotu, Victor, and a couple of others trained some of the finest speakers from Kuti Hall. Two of Olotu Oluwanisola’s biggest legacies – Adediran Adesokan and Okewole Oluwadamilola – went on to represent Kuti in the 2016 Jaw War final against Bello. Meanwhile, at the time of the maiden Jaw war win, Izuka Oscar-Romero was yet to assume an active public speaking role in the hall’s literary and debating Society.
Adediran Adesokan was President of Kuti Hall Literary and Debating Society in 2017. The following year, he assumed the same role in the Faculty of Law’s Literary and Debating Society. During the course of his university public speaking tenure, Diran rose rapidly through the ranks, becoming an A-list speaker in no time. Winning the Jaw War in 2016 wasn’t only remarkable for the hall but also for Diran himself, who was only in his 2nd year at the time. The duo of Oluwadamilola and Adediran squared up against seasoned debaters from Bello Hall in Victor Jonathan and Ayinde Abiodun Perusal. Perusal was in his final year at the time and had been credited for the role he played in pioneering the Faculty of Technology’s Literary and Debating Society. Adediran had won the rookie oratory competition in 2015’s final, and his speech in 2016’s final was all that Izuka Oscar-Romero needed to eventually kick start his remarkable public speaking journey. Narrating how he felt while watching his university mate speak on that eventful evening at Trenchard Hall, Izuka recounts, “I remember watching Diran speak in that final and, the way Trenchard was silent; when he was done speaking, I told myself that if this guy can do it, I can also do it.” So in 2016, Diran had not just won Kuti Hall its first Jaw War title; he was crowned the overall best speaker at the final while also inspiring his university mate, who would go on to become one of the finest public speakers the university will ever see.
Okewole Oluwadamilola was Vice-President of the Kuti Literary and Debating Society in 2015, but before then, he had participated in Kuti’s “Great Man of the Podium”, where he emerged as second runner-up. Great Man of the Podium was an oratory event organised during the hall week to screen and draw new recruits into the hall’s literary and debating Society. The competition was first held circa 2014, and that was when Dr Demola Louis pointed out Okewole Oluwadamilola’s evident `H factor`. “One of the comments that Dr. Demola Louis made that I can’t forget was that I do have an H factor and that if I can improve on that, I have the potential to be a good public speaker.” These comments by Dr. Demola Louis boosted Oluwadamilola’s morale. Rather than being offended by the judge’s comments, the Jaw War 2016 winner saw it as an encouragement to do better – and better did he! As a student of the Baptist Students Fellowship, Oluwadamilola participated in BSF’s annual competition called `Witty and Skilful`. He had given a good account of himself in the oratory contest and impromptu speech categories. However, as a result of his subpar performance in the role-play category, Oluwadamilola emerged 4th in the overall competition. Before the Jaw War triumph in 2016, Kuti was represented by Oluwadamilola at Queen Elizabeth II Hall’s debate competition, where he earned himself the moniker `King of Queens`. Okewole Oluwadamilola won that competition, and it served as the very first victory that would propel him to a bigger victory at the highest level.
Okewole Oluwadamilola speaking at Jaw War
Okewole Oluwadamilola, together with Adeolu Titus, who later left for the University College Hospital in furtherance of his medical education, represented Kuti Hall in the first round of 2016 Jaw War against Queen Idia Hall. His Jaw War debut alongside Oluwadamilola was a memorable one as Adeolu stunned the audience with his debate on `strike`. Adeolu would interestingly go on to speak against Kuti Hall for Alexander Brown Hall in the 2018 edition. He was President of Alexander Brown Hall Literary and Debating Society in 2019 after serving as Kuti L and D’s vice president two years earlier.
Lawal Victor and Abiodun Damola represented Kuti in the second leg of Jaw War 2016 first round. The Jaw War constituency had sent out two rookies to face Idia, but their performance was still good enough to consolidate the pace Adeolu and Oluwadamilola had set. Quarter-finals were next, and it was yet another female opposition in Queen Elizabeth II Hall. Kuti dispatched their quarter-final opponents through the help of Adediran Adesokan and Ugochukwu Okeke to book a place against – guess who? – Lord Tedder Hall in what was a repeat of the previous year’s first round. Okewole Oluwadamilola and Lawal Victor, both speaking for the second time in the competition, took up the baton of responsibility from Diran and Ugochukwu as they remarkably defeated Tedder to reach Kuti’s first-ever Jaw War final. Describing the events that happened a day before the final, Oscar-Romero recounts, “For some reason the common room was not opened the night before Jaw War so we had to rehearse for the final in somebody’s room. It felt like a very humble beginning. I remember us holding our hands and praying that night and I just felt like, if these people can take this Jaw War thing seriously then there must really be something to it. There were not many of us, it was not the whole team that was in the room that night. Those that wanted to be available were there, we prayed and then went to Jaw War”. Diran went on to wow his audience less than 24 hours later as Kuti’s first speaker, while his President, via his 3-minute speech, consolidated his stellar performance. As earlier mentioned, Kuti’s 2nd-year first speaker was crowned the best speaker on the night while the winning duo received the winner’s prizes from the then Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Abel Idowu Olayinka.
Diran and Oluwadamilola receiving prizes from the then Vice-Chancellor, Prof Abel Idowu Olayinka
The Long Dusk before the Dawn
Just like Leicester City lost to Hull City on the opening day of the 2016/2017 Premier League season, Kuti, in the bid to defend their Jaw War title, lost to Lord Tedder Hall in 2017. Adesokan Adediran was now President, while Izuka Oscar-Romero assumed a more active role in speech writing and public speaking. As mentioned earlier, Kuti was a strong underdog in 2016, and not even the main actors realistically believed that they could win the Jaw War that year. Little wonder why tiny drops of complacency began to trickle in until they became a pool that would go on to mark an era of gloom in Ransome Kuti Hall Literary and Debating Society. Oscar-Romero`s Jaw War debut against Tedder was Kuti`s first shot at defending their maiden Jaw War title. Oscar-Romero spoke well that night and received an ovation from the crowd. He was crowned best speaker of the round, but Kuti lost. Izuka Oscar-Romero is speaking well and emerging as the best speaker, but losing the tie would go on to become a recurrent theme that scarred the Mechanical Engineering graduate`s public speaking tenure on the university campus. Despite never winning the Jaw War, Oscar-Romero played an active role in recruiting two of the finest public speakers in Kuti Hall and the University of Ibadan`s modern history. The duo would go on to win Jaw War for Kuti half a decade later.
Oscar Romero joined the Faculty of Technology Literary and Debating Society in 2017 when Alo Oluwabamise was President. Oluwabamise was said to be a practical guy who was only interested in seeing fully-fledged speeches rather than ideas or drafts. He played a part in Oscar Romero`s late but stellar public speaking journey as he (Alo Oluwabamise) edited Oscar Romero`s Tech Bi-laterals 2017 speech. The then 300L Mechanical Engineering student`s public speaking journey was `late` because it indeed took off late. He was in 300L when he made his Jaw War debut – at this level, many public speakers were already making their second or even third appearance. His public speaking journey on the university campus was also stellar because he spoke his way into becoming an A-list speaker in no time. Izuka Oscar-Romero was renowned for his excellent speech delivery, witty wordplay, fact and logic. All of these attributes were evident in his speech at Jaw War 2017, where his five-minute rendition earned him an ovation from spectators. Oscar-Romero spoke really well and was deservedly recognised as the best speaker, but Kuti lost to Tedder by a tiny margin. The following day, Oscar-Romero spoke for his faculty at Jaw War, and his speech on the night was an iconic one for obvious reasons. His speech on 21st-century African music earned him a standing ovation – this time around, his faculty won and reached the finals to face public health. Of course, Tech lost out to public health, and Oscar-Romero`s run of ill luck continued.
Kuti Hall Literary and Debating Society appointed Izuka Oscar-Romero as Vice-President in 2018. In that same year, Oscar-Romero was made the Vice-President of the Faculty of Technology Literary and Debating Society. Saddled with these responsibilities by his jaw war constituencies, Oscar-Romero soon departed for his compulsory six-month Industrial Training programme in the second semester of the 2017/2018 session. In the first semester of that academic year, Tech L and D organised its usual Bi-lateral, where its speakers competed against a number of invited faculty L and Ds. Law had been invited to speak against Tech, but one of those who was supposed to speak for Tech did not show up. To avoid the cancellation of the Tech-Law round, Oscar-Romero stepped in for the absentee. Recounting the incident and how he dealt with the task of writing and delivering an impromptu speech against Law, he said, “At a bi-lateral that was supposed to be a preparation for people to build their experience, I was given two days to come up with a speech against Faculty of Law. I wrote that speech, and I remember still writing the speech, let`s say the debate that afternoon was by 4pm, I was still scribbling that speech around 2 or 3 o’clock. I was writing the speech in my room in Kuti while trying to go to TLT for the debate. I carried the paper on stage, and I recited that speech without looking at the paper once.” The current President of Tech Land D, Olatunji Vincent, spoke alongside Oscar-Romero as the second speaker in that debate against Law. Oscar-Romero later emerged as the best speaker at the Bilateral but confessed years later to the fear he felt while preparing for the speech and eventually delivering it. At that stage of his public speaking journey, he had stacked a handful of mesmerising public speaking performances while seeing his reputation grow within his constituencies and the university at large. The last thing on the mind of a guy who received a resounding ovation on his Jaw War debut was certainly not to tarnish his fully-fledged reputation by fumbling at a bilateral event against the Faculty of Law. No one would care to know that his was an impromptu speech. Heck, he was in 400l, and the vice-president of Tech L and D. He was Izuka Oscar-Romero and flimsy excuses were not tenable. The impromptu speech episode at Tech Bi-laterals 2018 came and went, and Izuka Oscar-Romero`s reputation was still intact.
Kuti Hall qualified as the best loser in the 2018 Jaw War first round after losing to Alexander Brown Hall over two legs. Adediran Adesokan had led the hall to a first-leg victory against its opponent, but yet again, Oscar-Romero`s impressive effort was unable to propel Kuti past ABH on the night. In the quarter-finals, Kuti lost again and finally crashed out of Jaw War. Oscar-Romero shuffled between Lagos and Ibadan during the Jaw War, a phenomenon that clearly showed the speaker`s love and commitment to public speaking. While Oscar-Romero kept on churning out excellent performances and improving on his solid reputation, Kuti Hall kept on crashing out from Jaw War in the early stages. He took his innate drive and desire for success to Tech Jaw War constituency, where he represented them in the semi-finals of Jaw War 2018. Faculty of Technology. In a final-four round that pitted Oscar-Romero`s faculty against the faculty of Law, Oscar-Romero was up against Apollos, his first-ever Jaw War opponent. Apollos had advanced Lord Tedder Hall to the quarter-final at the expense of Kuti Hall in what was Oscar-Romero`s Jaw War debut, but in the semi-final the following year, something unfortunate happened. Apollos had his tongue caught up in his mouth while on stage speaking. Apollos wasn’t at his utmost best on that day as Law`s first speaker, and that increased Tech`s chances of winning – at least at the moment when Apollos was speaking. Unfortunately for Oscar-Romero and his constituency, their first speaker had walked off the stage after forgetting his speech. The Faculty of Technology had it in their hands as all their first speaker needed to do was hang on and complete his speech following Apollo’s sub-par performance. Tech eventually lost to Law, despite Oscar-Romero being the best of the four speakers and his terrible record of `shining, yet losing` at Jaw War continued.
Queen Idia Hall was pitched against Ransome Kuti Hall in the first round of the 2019 edition. Oscar-Romero, who was now President of Tech L and D in a bid to avoid a repeat of the previous editions where he would speak well but lose because of an underperforming teammate, decided that he was going to speak with Adesokan Adediran, who was now in the final year. However, the 2016 Jaw War winner did not buy into Oscar-Romero`s idea as he felt that it was too early to unleash such a combo. Diran was speaking for Law in the first round, too, anyway, and so that played a big part. Kuti Hall, represented by Abiodun Damola and Izuka Oscar-Romero, lost to Idia Hall in the first leg of Jaw War 2019 first round, but guess who emerged as the best speaker of the round? Correct, Izuka Oscar-Romero! Yet again, the final-year Mechanical Engineering student had done an excellent job on the night, but that wasn`t enough to see Kuti through because the constituency`s President did not bring his A-game. Trailing to Idia in the first leg, Kuti`s preparations towards the second leg were pretty aggressive. The plan was to present two experienced speakers for the return leg in a bid to stage a comeback. After so many disagreements on their choice of representatives, the constituency finally agreed to send two rookies – Okusanya Goodness and Ayo-Salako Faithful – to face Idia in the second leg. The duo, who were recruited during Oscar-Romero`s tenure as Vice-President in 2018, successfully completed Kuti`s comeback and qualified them to face Zik Hall in the quarter-finals. Zik were below par on the night as Faithful and Oscar-Romero completely demolished them. In the semi-finals for Kuti Hall, Adesokan Adediran had a sizable share of Oscar-Romero’s unlucky pie when he emerged as the best speaker on the night but ended up losing because his President had forgotten his speech. Abiodun Damola was President of Kuti Hall Literary and Debating Society, but he had now cost Kuti twice in the same year. Speaking on the events that followed Hall`s elimination from Jaw War 2019, Oscar-Romero revealed, “I was laughing at Diran after the result came out because he finally experienced what I had been experiencing back to back to back in Kuti. He did very well, he was the best speaker of the day but we still lost the debate, and we didn’t go to that final because Damola did not perform up to his own standard. I keep saying his own standard because I was invited as a judge at Science`s Speak and Spark –a competition they do after Jaw War – and Damola was by far the best speaker in that competition”. 2019 signalled the end of a handful of Kuti L and D speakers. Adediran Adesokan graduated the following year, a session after Okewole Oluwadamilola bowed out of the public speaking stage on the university campus. Diran left the public speaking scene as an A-list speaker, having won Ransome Kuti Hall`s first-ever Jaw War title. He won the rookie oratory competition at the 2015 Jaw War finals. Diran went on to represent the University of Ibadan at the LASU Inter-Varsity debates in 2016, where he is remarkably remembered for the rebuttal of his opponents that day. University of Ibadan emerged winners in the Inter-Varsity debates, and it was said that Diran`s shattering rebuttal was a key factor. Although Abiodun Damola had let Kuti down twice on the biggest public speaking stage on campus in 2019, he had the opportunity to redeem himself at Science`s `Speak and Spark`, where he emerged the winner. He was able to remind everyone how good a speaker he was and bowed out of the stage with his head held up high. Izuka Oscar-Romero left the University of Ibadan amassing a grand total of one Jaw War win. His only win was that quarter-final victory against Zik Hall, which was his last Jaw War performance. Oscar-Romero represented Ransome-Kuti Hall four times in total; 1st leg of the 2017 first round, 2nd leg of the 2018 first round, 1st leg of the 2019 first round and the 2019 quarter-final, but they never won. Goodness and Faithful, whom Oscar-Romero had recruited as Vice-President in 2018, went on to win the title for Kuti 7 years after the maiden victory.
……………………………..
The year was 2023, and Kuti Hall had just defeated Obafemi Awolowo Hall in the semi-final round of Jaw War. Okusanya Goodness and Ayo-Salako Rehoboth faced off against their opponents at the Faculty of The Social Sciences Large Lecture Theatre with a chance to send the hall into its second-ever Jaw War final. After a devastating 8 month strike following Kuti`s semi-final defeat in 2021, the 2023 edition presented itself as another opportunity to reclaim the title after so many disappointments. The campaign got off to a positive start with a first-round victory against Alexander Brown Hall. Tofunmi Ishola and Temidayo Morakinyo represented the hall in the first leg, while Okusanya Goodness and Ajise Israel wrapped it up in the second leg. The pairing of both first-round legs saw Kuti field a rookie and a veteran together in the bid to give the newbies ample Jaw War experience while still having the required experience and quality to win. Against Independence Hall in the quarter-finals, Abidoye Joshua, another rookie, and Temidayo Morakinyo were sent out to represent. Both 2nd-year students at the time, Joshua and Temidayo, also came up against Indy`s Adebayo Abdulrahman, who was also a rookie in his 2nd year. Prior to Jaw War 2023, Temidayo had represented the Faculty of Arts at Tech Bilateral, where he won against the competition`s hosts. Temidayo had the luxury of Okusanya Goodness, who was now a final year Communication and Language Arts student, to learn from, and boy did he learn. Joshua and Temidayo saw Indy off and handed the baton over to Ayo-Salako Faithful`s younger brother and Jaw War 2021 winner. Goodness and Rehoboth defeated Obafemi Awolowo Hall in the semi-final to send Ransome Kuti Hall into the final. Okusanya Goodness received a hero`s welcome in the hall that night as he was lifted by the strong arms of joyous Kutites who had congregated at the hall`s cafeteria. He was seen as a hero within and outside the hall – and rightly so – with his deceptive small frame being a misrepresentation of his giant status in the public speaking realm.
May 11th 2023, was a great day as students converged at the International Conference Centre to witness the grand finale of the Jaw War. The faculty of Arts was up against the Faculty of Law, while the hall category pitched two next-door neighbours against each other. Ransome Kuti Hall was up against their Niger Road neighbours in a repeat of the 2016 final. In what was an unprecedented feat, the Ayo-Salako brothers represented the Kuti constituency while fellow kutite, Okusanya Goodness, went to war for his Faculty as he sought to defend the title they had won with him as Vice-President. Confidence was high going into the final, but Kuti was wary of a certain Michael Barnabas, whose final appearance in 2023 made him the only speaker in Jaw War history to present 5 five-minute speeches at a single edition. He debuted in 2021 as a 4th-year Petroleum Engineering student but went on to make a name for himself in no time. Mr and Mrs Ayo-Salako, with their teenage son, had come all the way to watch and cheer for two of their own sons on the night. As Kutites chanted and cheered on their speakers, Mrs Ayo-Salako followed suit as the proud mother of the men who would go on to deliver Kuti`s second Jaw War title. It was a keenly contested final, as expected, but Kuti emerged victorious in the Niger-Road derby. Bello`s Michael Barnabas was crowned as the most outstanding speaker of Jaw War, while Okusanya Goodness emerged as the best speaker on the night, the best finalist speaker, and the overall best speaker at Jaw War 2023.
The Ayo-Salako brothers receiving the Jaw War 2023 title from Dr. Demola Louis
May 11th officially signalled the end of the journey for a host of Kuti Hall Literary and Debating Society stakeholders. Akobondu Daniel, who was President, was leaving, having represented Kuti Hall in 2021 and finally winning it in the following edition as President. Tofunmi Ishola, who was President of Tech L and D in his final year, took his faculty to the semi-finals whilst also playing an important role in reigniting Alo and Oscar-Romero`s legacies. He was a key member of Kuti`s 2023 winning team, having set the ball rolling in the first leg of the first round against Alexander Brown Hall. IbukunOluwa Dada, who largely operated in the background during his time in Kuti L and D, was also graduating. He was a prolific speaker in his own right but was never known to be a great Presidential-style debater. He had a track record of forgetting his speeches on stage and would later admit that cramming up speeches in his head and delivering was never his thing. The 34th Union of Campus Journalists, UI President, was a key part of Kuti L and D stakeholders and was actively involved in editing and writing speeches as Kuti spoke their way into a second Jaw War title. Faithful and Goodness were two of Oscar-Romero`s legacies, and they were now bowing out of the public speaking stage with legacies of their own. Goodness won JCI`s Lanre Bello Inter-Faculty debate competition in his final year, while Faithful was the joint winner of the same competition. Goodness won Jaw War in 2021 for the faculty of Arts and remarkably defended his title in 2023 as President. However, he had one big regret from his time as a public speaker at UI. In what could have been his biggest public speaking achievement, Goodness finished as runner-up in the Amnesty International Debate competition. He followed in Adediran Adesokan`s big footsteps when he won the Lagos State University Inter-Varsity debate for UI. Just like Diran in 2017, Okusanya emerged as the best speaker at the competition. Ayo-Salako Faithful was leaving, but Ayo-Salako Jnr was still around to continue from where he left off. In the same vein, Okusanya Goodness` protégé, Temidayo Morakinyo, was waiting in the wings to carry on from where his mentor had stopped.
….And Now
The draws for Jaw War 2024 were made in late 2023, and Kuti was pitched against Bello again! Having defeated Bello in the 2016 and 2023 finals, confidence was high going into the first-round encounter. Meanwhile, Ayo-Salako Rehoboth was now President of Kuti L and D. Temidayo was appointed Vice-President, and his energy, drive and passion towards public speaking would play an important role in Kuti reaching another final. Kuti’s loss of five key stakeholders in 2023 further stressed the need for an aggressive approach towards L and D recruitment. Kuti Hall called out for recruits, and out of a handful of interested Kutites, certain individuals stood out and have now been tipped for great things in the not-so-distant future. Binuyo Samuel won the Kuti Literary and Debating Society rookie oratory competition on September 22nd, 2023, 11 days after Kennedy Ifeadi finished as first runner-up at the UI SU fresher’s oratory competition. Binuyo Samuel had been spotted by Temidayo, who noticed the 2nd year Law student’s keen interest in public speaking. At the time, Samuel had not opted to join the L and D society; however, after Temidayo’s encouragement, he joined and debuted at Jaw War the following year. Before going on to make his Jaw War debut against Queen Idia Hall in the Jaw War 2024 Quarter-finals, Binuyo Samuel had shown the stuff he was made of when he, alongside Temidayo, represented Kuti at Bello’s public speaking event. Kuti defeated Bello on the night, and the Great Man of The Podium 2024 winner was crowned overall best speaker. Olasunkanmi Joshua, who was second runner-up at Kuti L and D’s oratory contest behind Samuel and Abdulafeez, represented Kuti at Tedder Hall’s annual public speaking event alongside Kennedy. The duo made a good show of themselves but lost out to the hosts on the day.
Joshua Abidoye and Temidayo Morakinyo defeated Bello in the first leg of the Jaw War 2024 first round, as expected. Bello’s defeat at the hands of their next-door neighbours only meant that they needed a strong outing in the return leg to stand a chance of scaling through to the Quarter-finals. To make this happen, Michael Barnabas, who had lost last edition’s final to Kuti, came up impromptu to represent his hall. Bello did win on the night by a tiny margin but ended up losing out on aggregate. Following the departure of Goodness, Faithful, Ibukun, Tofunmi and Daniel, Kuti Hall L and D was now left with a young core of 3rd-year students who were now seeking to consolidate on previous achievements. An integral member of this core is Ayomide Suara, a third-year civil engineering student, who would go on to make his Jaw War debut against Queen Idia Hall in the Quarter-finals. Before his Jaw War debut in February of 2024, Ayomide had participated in Tech Bilaterals, where he did not impress. While his colleagues, namely Ajise Israel, Joshua Abidoye and Temidayo Morakinyo, already had Jaw War appearance(s) under their belts, Ayomide was predominantly saddled with speech writing and editing tasks. Ayomide Suara’s fierce rebuttal, complemented by Samuel Binuyo’s flawless delivery, was very key in securing Kuti’s victory on the night after a not-so-good delivery from the former. An overall best speaker-winning performance from Rehoboth, who is now president, sent Kuti to the finals. Obafemi Awolowo Hall had selected two relatively inexperienced speakers to represent them in the semis against Kuti’s President and Vice-President. Although Akinlawon Goodness and her partner had made a good show of themselves, their performance was not enough to defeat the competition’s defending champions.
Nnamdi Azikwe Hall was through to the finals for the first time to face Kuti after defeating ABH in the semis. Last year, they reached a new milestone when they qualified for the semi-finals and squared up against Bello Hall. With the likes of Tijani Abdulkabeer, Oyedijo Olanrewaju, Bodunde Ebenezer and Olatunji Vincent, Zik had surged on from the first round up until the final, but the ultimate question on the minds of many was; Can these men from Baluba go all the way? Can they follow in the giant steps of Kuti when they won Jaw War as underdogs against Bello in 2016, or will Kuti’s strike force of Rehoboth and Joshua be too hot for Ebenezer and his Olanrewaju to handle? The much anticipated final came, and these questions were brilliantly answered. Zik Hall constituency emerged from the mess that plagued them a few days before last year’s semi-final against Bello to defeat the defending champions and strong favourites. Olatunji Vincent also won Jaw on the night for his Faculty, achieving Alo’s and Oscar-Romero’s and Tofunmi’s long-standing dream. Kuti had given a good account of themselves en route to the final. A good opportunity to equal Tedder’s record of winning consecutive Jaw War titles presented itself, but it was not meant to be for Kuti. Despite the defeat at the International Conference Centre on the night of Wednesday, March 27th, 2024, it is quite evident that Kuti L and D have come a long way from 2015 and have worked their way up the ladder of relevance in the public speaking realm. The young core that the Kuti Jaw War constituency is made of would remain intact for at least one more year. The President, Ayo-Salako Rehoboth, takes his leave this year, but the core of third-year students are still very much around. Ayomide Suara and Joshua Abidoye will be around for two more editions, while the prospect of having Binuyo Samuel, Joshua Olasunkanmi, who was Jaw War 2024 Rookie Oratory Competition winner, and Kennedy Ifeadi speak for Kuti at Jaw War is really exciting. The future looks bright, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, Kuti is expected to dominate the scene for the next couple of years.
