Welcome to the formal commencement of COINCIDENCES, a column where we’ll examine, week after week, interesting coinciding incidents across the world. After writing some articles in this regard, I got an offer from News Express to make this a regular column and I gladly accepted because this is something I am passionate about.

COINCIDENCES will be appearing every Wednesday. I look forward to keeping a date with you, week after week. I hope you’ll not only find time to read the column but would also send us your reactions as well as offer advice where necessary. This week we go from Algeria to Nigeria to relate interesting coincidences between Saint Augustine of Hippo, Jimoh Odutola of Ijebu-Ode and Muyiwa Awe of Ibadan.

Jimoh Odutola was born March 16, 1905, on the day of the wedding of Gugliemo Marconi, Physicist and then the greatest Italian Scientist.

Conversely Muyiwa Awe’s wedding was on December 25, 1960, the anniversary of the birth of Isaac Newton, the greatest British Physicist.

Jimoh Odutola and Muyiwa Awe are both pioneers in Nigeria, West Africa and Africa. Odutola was the first man to discover raw gold in Nigeria and Awe the first President of the Nigerian Institute of Physics; Awe would describe Physics as the proverbial goose that lays the golden egg.

Odutola was the owner of the first tyre retreading factory in West Africa and Awe the first President of the West African Association of Science. Odutola was the first African to fly over the North Pole and Awe the first African Professor of Physics on the African Continent.

Odutola started business on December 7, 1921 and Awe was formally brought into the fold of the Professoriate with his Inaugural Lecture on December 7, 1973.

December 7 is known as the feast of Saint Ambrose. Saint Ambrose baptised Saint Augustine. Ambrose is the Patron Saint of Milan. Saint Augustine got his first appointment as Professor in Milan. Jimoh Odutola said he is confident that if his name is featured in any newspaper in Milan he is sure to be recognised.

Muyiwa Awe and Saint Augustine were born in November 13, 354 A.D. and November 13, 1932 respectively; Augustine in the present-day Algeria and Awe in Nigeria, both of them Pastors and Professors. Augustine was a philosopher and Awe a physicist. Hundreds of years back Physics was known as Natural Philosophy. Augustine was a womaniser and Awe as an undergraduate was a member of the Society for the Study of Sex.
Augustine’s father and Awe’s Father both converted from paganism to Christianity.

Augustine was a member of a gang boasting about crimes that he did not commit and relatedly Awe was a member of the much-talked about Pyrates Confraternity. Augustine wrote the book, The City of God. Awe wrote the book, The Fatherhood of God.

Augustine has been described as a great genius and Awe, one of the four geniuses from Government College, Ibadan – the others being Wole Soyinka, Oludolapo Akinkugbe and Christopher Kolade. Is Muyiwa Awe the return of Augustine of Hippo?

•COINCIDENCES is a weekly column that appears on Wednesdays. The columnist, Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth, is based in London, England, but can be reached via e-mail through atogonub@hotmail.co.uk or info@newsexpressngr.com.

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