HIPPOCRATES CHAMBER
Here is the story of unicorns, stars, and 5 times undefeated winning champion in Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS)
There is a debate union in my university called the UDUS Debate Club. The club is divided into 4 chambers. I belong to the Hippocrates Chamber, which is the chamber housing all medical students within the university that are in the club. We have students from medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, medical laboratory science, optometry, radiography, nutrition & dietetics, and physiotherapy all within Hippocrates Chamber.
This debate union organizes several competitions amongst its members and within the university community. We have the inter-chamber, the intra-chamber, and the most anticipated Interfaculty Championship that is tagged UDC.
Two years ago, my faculty (CHS) produced the winners of the UDC 1.0 in 2023.
On the 1st of October 2024, I was crowned the Top 1 Best Debater and Debate Champion of the UDC 2.0 in my university. The competition was tagged Grand Odyssey. I and my wonderful debate partner, Joseph Rosemary, had debated 8 rounds of British Parliamentary debates before breaking into the grand finale. We had accumulated 21 points out of 24 with 135/200 team speaks. The second best team had 18 points and 128.8 team speaks.
I would later on the day of the grand finale be declared the Top 1, my teammate was the Top 2. In that same competition, my chamber’s head, Abubakar Muizzat, was awarded Most Inspiring Debater. My chamber produced the several top medallists, finalists, and winners in UDC 2.0
This year, the duty to train debaters and public speakers for UDC 3.0 fell on my laps. It didn’t help that I was rounding up my service as the Editor in Chief of UDUMSA or that the Vice Chancellor was sponsoring the event, hence, it was tagged VCDC. I started by scouting for talents across all the faculties and departments; I reached out to departmental presidents and friends and other well-meaning people within my university debating circuit. The head, deputy head, and some old members of my chamber would assist me on this task and we gathered more than 50 interested students.
Training began. Due to our academic schedules, we’d have no choice but to meet at ungodly hours to train. We had fun while doing it; we laughed and argued and bantered each other like our lives depended on it. Hippocrates Chamber is to compete in all three categories of the competition: debating, public speaking, and adjudication. A big eligibility criteria (those who broke to last year’s finals cannot compete in the same competition) took out two of our best debating candidates. Of course, Hippocrates chamber is not without excess talents, so we reshuffled and submitted our final participants list.
After five intense preliminary rounds that lasted for four days, a Grand Finale that took place on the 1st of September, 2025, I am pleased to tell you all how we performed.
In the debating category, we produced top debaters, and best teams. In the public speaking category, we emerged with several top public speakers. In the adjudication category, we had the 2nd Best Adjudicator. In the competition, all the top 15 debaters out of 40, top 10 public speakers out of 20, and top 3 adjudicators out of 7 received a medal.
In the grand finale of UDC 3.0, we produced the Debate Champion and 2nd Runner Up in the debate category. We also emerged as the 1st and 2nd Runner Up Public Speaking Champion, losing the Public Speaking Champion title by 1 point difference.
At the end of the day, the participants from my chamber (Hippocrates) went home with 1 of 2 trophies, 2 of 2 awards, and 14 out of 28 medals. Indeed, we had dominated the Vice Chancellor Debate Championship (VCDC).
I, Ololade Edun, would like to thank all the sponsors of my chamber: Toyin Abiodun Edun, Simeon Okikiola, Israel Winlade, Agunbiade Kehinde, Hassan Khadija, Umar Aliyu, and Abifarin Seyi Fadlullah. These are all people whom I reached out to on the eve of the grand finale and they all responded positively. These wins would not have been possible without your financial assistance, goodwill, and I am forever grateful for your kindness.
Behind the wins are hours of relentless physical training, strict adjudication, and virtual practice sessions. We enjoyed encouragements from far and near, best wishes from the several faculty leaders in UDUTH. The tireless efforts of the Head and Deputy Head of the Hippocrates Chamber: Abubakar Muizzat and Sebiotimo Abdullateef. The invaluable contributions of pro debaters and public speakers of the chamber in person of Abdulhakeem Fatima, Joseph Rosemary, Afeez Galadinma, Yahya Zakariya and Joseph Joshua (Empire J).
Indeed, success has many fathers and mothers, and we are grateful to them all. Beyond the prizes and medals and trophies, I am most proud of every debater and public speaker from UDUTH. You all are testaments to the fact that you can be in the healthcare sector, studying the most difficult courses in this university and still excel in extracurricular activities. Thank you all for being WINNERS!
HIPPOCRATES CHAMBER STATISTICS
- Champion, UDC 1.0
- Champion, UDC 2.0 (Grand Odyssey)
- Champion, UDC Inter-Chamber 2.0 (virtual)
- Champion, UDC Inter-Chamber 3.0
- Champion, UDC 3.0 (Vice Chancellor Debate Championship).
✨ ✨ ✨ ✨✨ ✨ ✨ ✨
UDC 1.0
1. Debate Champion - CHS (Nuwaira Abdullahi + Abubakar Muizzah)
✨ ✨ ✨ ✨✨
UDC 2.0 (Grand Odyssey)
1. Debate Champion - CHS (Ololade Edun + Joseph Rosemary)
2. 2nd Runner Up (Debate) - AHS (Sebiotimo Abdullateef + Abdulhakeem Fatima)
3. 1st Runner Up (Public Speaking) - CHS (Yahaya Zakariya)
4. 2nd Runner Up (Public Speaking) - PHS (Fatima Aminu Pai)
Best Debate Teams
Top 1 – (CHS A: Ololade + Joseph Rosemary).
Top 4 – (AHS A: Sebiotimo Abdullateef + Abdulhakeem Fatima).
Top 5 – (PHS A: Precious Ugwuanyi + Emmanuel Triumph).
Top 9 – (CHS B: Safwan Shuaibu + Aliyu Ibrahim).
Best Debaters
Top 1 - Ololade Edun.
Top 2 - Joseph Rosemary.
Top 6 - Sebiotimo Abdullateef.
Top 9 - Emmanuel Triumph.
Best Public Speakers
Top 2 - Yahaya Zakariya.
Top 3 - Fatima Aminu Pai.
Top 4 - Abdulrahman Ibrahim.
Top 5 - Afeez Galadima.
Most Inspiring Debater - Abubakar Muizzat (Head of Hippocrates Chamber).
✨ ✨ ✨ ✨✨
UDC 3.0 (Vice Chancellor Debate Championship)
1. Debate Champion - MLS (Olurode Radiyah + Mukthar Anoze)
2. 2nd Runner Up (Debate) - PHS (Usman Aliyu + Emmanuel Triumph)
3. 1st Runner Up (Public Speaking) - AHS (Shuaib Fatima)
4. 2nd Runner Up (Public Speaking) - PHS (Fatima Aminu Pai)
5. 2nd Best Adjudicator
Best Debate Teams
Top 1 – (PHS B: Usman Aliyu + Emmanuel Triumph).
Top 2 – (MLS: Olurode Radiyah + Mukthar Anoze).
Top 6 – (CHS A: Bayero Sulaiman + Bello Abdulmalik).
Top 8 – (PHS A: Abdulhamid Hurain Onyisa + Oluwatoyin Ibrahim Ololade).
Top 10 – (AHS: Abdulrasaq Haneefat + Sulaiman Raheemat).
Top 11 – (CHS B: Aliyu Ibrahim + Abdullahi Y.F).
Best Debaters
Top 1 - Emmanuel Triumph.
Top 2 - Olurode Radiyah.
Top 4 - Mukthar Anoze.
Top 5 - Usmanu Aliyu.
Top 8 - Abdullahi Y.F.
Top 10 - Abdulhamid Hurain Onyisa.
Top 11 - Sulaiman Raheemat.
Top 15 - Bayero Sulaiman.
Best Public Speakers
Top 1 - MuhammadKabir Yusuf.
Top 3 - Shuaib Fatima.
Top 4 - Fatima Aminu Pai.
Top 6 - Udeh Favour Jane.
Top 9 - Yahaya Zakariya.
✨ ✨ ✨ ✨✨
UDC Inter-Chamber 2.0 Virtual
1. Debate Champion - (Sebiotimo Abdullateef + Abdulhakeem Fatima)
Best Debate Team
Top 4 - (Sebiotimo Abdullateef + Abdulhakeem Fatima)
Best Speaker
Top 7 - (Sebiotimo Abdullateef)
✨ ✨ ✨ ✨✨
UDC Inter-Chamber 3.0
1. Debate Champion - (Sebiotimo Abdullateef + Nuwaira Abdullahi)
2. Best Speaker in the Grand Finale - Nuwaira Abdullahi
Best Team
Top 2 (Sebiotimo Abdullateef + Nuwaira Abdullahi)
Top 3 (Abdulhakeem Fateema + Joseph Rosemary)
Best Speakers
Top 4 - Abdulhakeem Fatima. Top 5 - Nuwaira Abdullahi
Adjudication
2nd Best Adjudicator (Ololade Edun)
3rd Best Adjudicator (Joseph Joshua - Empire J).
The big question is: what's next for Hipocrates Chamber?