Jawwar 2024, Rise of Fighters: Stand up, speak up, pull out!

By Oludare Olufunmilola Priscilla 

Random thoughts: Maybe TLDS could have taken more time in deciding this year’s Jawwar theme. I mean, taking a look at the unfolding of events, they could have themed it “the rise of fighters and not legends. Jawwar is legendary already, we just need a little more spice to embellish it. A little change to the slogan too would have passed well, think about this: Stand up, speak up, pull out! Cool yea? Walk with me.

Jawwar 2024? You’d be a Jawwar “drop out” if you decide to cap off your response with “shut up”. This conversation is far from over because nobody seems to be shutting up . Let’s juggle our memories a little. The previous Jawwar was a long but fun thread of emotional highs and lows, fierce battle of wits, subtle yabs to the losers and a little bit of dramatic walkouts on judges and spectators. There were quite a volume of tears, but no press statements from halls and faculties, no dramatic pull-outs. It was just a minor speed bump in the Jawwar journey. This current Jawwar event seems like a different story but if you ask me, I’d say it’s still our beloved event but, with a little bit of spice. As speakers mount the podium , we must now understand that the “d” in “ladies and gentlemen” stands for drama. Maybe Ayra Star’s decision to perform in UI on the same day as the Jawwar interfaculty rounds came off as intruding because it almost threw us off balance but, what did you hear about Jawwar? It is the biggest social event in UI, Ayra star has nothing on it. To reiterate, it’s a minor glitch, nothing serious.

At a time like this, my thoughts are with our doctor-patients in ABH, they fell ill after the inter-hall of residence rounds last week. A doctor can never make mistakes but, it’s not their fault that the judges didn’t take this into consideration. Nonetheless, in the spirit of Jawwar, no one gets relegated to the background. Everyone’s displeasure must be heard, for in this wicked world that often silences us, our voices must be amplified and taken to the ends of the earth. When the world refuses to listen, we must wield the power of the pen and just like UCJ, we give voice to our frustrations, holding accountable those who seek to mute us. Of course, don’t forget to drop the mic and make a press release after.

Our science students, still reeling from their loss at the inter-faculty rounds, decided to take a cue from Olamide's hit song and "po chemical" their woes away. There's no herb or root to cure their illnesses, unlike those lucky folks in ABH who can get treated. The president's brave decision to blame someone who didn't speak for their failure was too real. You don’t need personal responsibility when you can just shift the blame to someone else. They say we can't get punished for what we didn't do but it’s a different ball game in Jawwar. And then, of course, came the inevitable rejoinder of apology, a classic case of "too little, too late." It's like they say: "when you realize you've made a mistake, just apologize and hope nobody notices. Except we want to be hypocrites, we can’t say we noticed any of what transpired between these constituencies and Jawwar. All we want is the drama right? I don’t know about you, but for me, all I want is the drama. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Jawwar should now focus on drama but, what’s a public speaking event without a little bit of chaos and whining? If dem dey whine you, na you no go panic.

 Today, we go again. To our fallen heroes in the faculty of clinical sciences, dentistry and the inhabitants of ABH, we promise to uphold the legacy you have left for us; to always stand up, speak up and when the odds don’t go in our favour, we must be courageous enough to pull out and most importantly, make a press release.

 Jawwar 2024! Stand up, speak up, pull out!