By Balogun Kamilu Lekan
If you ask an ordinary person the exact date, Nigeria will celebrate her 100 years of independence. Either the person uses Zeller’s congruence or the Key value date formula to figure it out. This will be after a series of solving on paper, or to make it easy, just ask Google.
The case is different for this young, calm, reserved genius, Siju Olawepo. If you ask him the same question, within seconds, he will tell you Nigeria will be 100 years on Friday, October 1, 2060 without hesitating to remind you it will be a leap year. This is within seconds faster than when you use your internet.
Siju’s talent is very rare, and it is quite inexplicable how a young kid of his age can tell you calendar dates as far back as the 16th century.
When Siju was a primary five pupil at Carol School in Lagos, one of his teachers noticed this innate ability when he always demanded plain sheets to design calendars. Later, he was seen creating future calendars without using any existing ones.
Siju, like a soothsayer, can predict the day of the week based on a given date. He not only knows the dates, but he never forgets any of them. He can tell you what day of the week he or she was born on.
A psychologist, Oni Fagbohungbe, explained that Siju’s talent defies science and is beyond explanation. He said . “it is simply inexplicable.”
When Siju was asked how he came about knowing days with their corresponding dates, he responded, “I just know it. My instinct tells me dates with the corresponding days. It comes naturally to me; I cannot explain how.”
Siju is indeed a kind of talent the world has never seen before.
