We lost a great man on Monday.

On Monday we lost Professor Olú Lóngẹ́, Nigeria’s first professor of computer science. He joined the ancestors in the great beyond at 88 after a brief illness.

He was a great scientist who explored the relationship between Ifá and computer science. In his inaugural lecture in 1983, he posited:”Ògòdò òwú s’òkè odò, ó p’ayín kekekeke s’olóko.

A dífá fún alántàakùn, Ọmọ a ṣ’ohun gbogbo bí idán bi idán. Ifá bi idán bi idán, ni yio ṣ’ere temi fúnmi.Ògòdò òwú s’òkè odò, ó p’ayín kekekeke s’olóko”. “Open cotton buds, on the other side of the stream, smiling invitingly to the farmer”Divined for the Spider – the offspring of those who do all things in a wonderful way.Ifa, in your wonderful way, bring all good things to me.“Open cotton buds, on the other side of the stream, smiling invitingly to the farmer”.

In his words:“Ifá divination system is like a spider’s web, artistically crafted. It is very attractive, like lily-white cotton, beckoning, on the other side of the stream to the farmer. However, even though the system is so attractive, it is also complex and puzzling.

Thus to the casual observer, it is like magic.An enquirer has to think hard to get at the meaning just as the farmer has to cross the stream to reap the cotton buds.” [1]RIP Professor. Reference:[1] Longe, O: Ifa Divination And Computer Science – Inaugural Lecture 1983 (University of Ibadan)