Emmeline Pankurst, Briton and Dora Akinyuli, Nigerian are two dynamic women and political activists.

Emmeline Pankurst was born on July 14, 1858 (usually mistaken for July 15) and Dora Akunyili was born on July 14, 1954.

In the Chinese calendar July14, 1858 and July 14, 1954 fall on the Year of the Horse. You have the year of the Horse every 12 years.

Emmeline Pankhurst was a leader of the British suffragette movement that helped women win the right to vote. In 1999 TIME magazine named her as one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century, stating: “She shaped an idea of women for our time; she shook society into a new pattern from which there could be no going back.”

Pankhurst was widely criticised for her militant tactics, and historians disagree about their effectiveness, but her work is recognised as a crucial element in achieving women’s suffrage in Britain.

Relatedly, Dora Akunyili took the Nigerian Nation and the world by storm in her fight against fake drugs as Director General of the National Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

According to the Wikipedia, Dora Akunyili became angry because “so many of (her) countrymen and women (were) fighting killer diseases like malaria and tuberculosis with little more than sugar syrup and chalk tablets, cynically packaged to look like the real thing.”

Although Akunyili has faced considerable risk to her personal safety in order to combat the issue of fake drugs “She (has been) dancing with danger. And she (has been collecting) very visibly awards all over the world appearing with whomever has a smile to share.”

In 2005 TIME magazine identified Prof. Akunyili as one of 18 global heroes in health, and her story was the cover story for the profile.

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

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