The Alexander Brown Hall Literary and Debating Society, also consisting of the Faculty of Dentistry and Clinical Sciences Literary and Debating Societies, have pulled out of the current edition and all future editions of Jaw War, via a public statement released on Wednesday, 27th November, 2024.
The statement comes in the aftermath of a 71.6% to 66% loss to the Obafemi Awolowo Hall at the Preliminary round of Jaw War: Rise of Legends yesterday evening at the New Faculty of Technology Lecture Theatre, UI.
In the statement, the Society expressed their discontent at the unrelenting stance of the Literary and Debating Society, UI (TLDS UI) on judging sheets, considering it “unexplainable and painfully ridiculous that the Literary and Debating Society (TLDS) do not see the importance of reviewing the draconic, irrational and illogical stance that constituencies cannot get to see the judging sheets to assess why and how they lost, despite the fact that this is nowhere in the TLDS constitution”.
They also addressed the constitutional hindrance cited by past Presidents, including, more recently, the Aweda Bolaji-led TLDS Administration. “We are aware that past TLDS presidents have cited article 5 section 8 of the TLDS constitution to beguile constituencies as defence. That section actually says “the decision of the judges shall be final and cannot be reviewed”. No part in that section stops anyone from seeing the judging sheets. Nothing about having a look at the sheets is tantamount to changing the finality of the judges’ decision“
The final complaint concerned the timekeeper, who supposedly “started timing once speakers got on stage and not immediately they started speaking.”
The statement concluded by emphasizing a lack of interest in any meetings to discuss the decision, and alleging that “The TLDS Vice President already told us that it was not her business if we were disgruntled”.
This pull-out is the most recent in the competition’s history. Sultan Bello Hall took similar steps in 2021, following an aggrieved perception of their initially apportioned scores in the First Leg of the 2021 Inter-Hall preliminaries. The decision was eventually reversed by the TLDS following a re-calculation.