His wedding a few days ago has been adjudged as one of the best weddings to have held this year. On Saturday 2nd July 2022 at the prestigious Marriott Hotel, Ikeja GRA, in Lagos, Adebola Daniel, the brilliant son of Otunba Gbenga Daniel got married to Morenike Anike Ademiju. It was a classy 3-in-1-event which started at 9 am with the court wedding, Traditional Wedding & Reception. There was also the After Party, all at The Marriott Hotel. It was a happy couple that hosted the star-studded guests that witnessed the wedding of Morenike & Adebola.
What sort of a person in the Groom? What sort of a person is also the Bride? City People sought to unveil the duo after the successful wedding event, and we found both of them to be a perfect fit. Whilst the groom is an Investment banker in London, the Bride is a Lawyer who is transiting into the Financial sector.
We also found a lot of similarities between OGD & his look-alike son. They are both Engineers. They are both intelligent and engaging. City People met with Debola last Wednesday to talk about his life, and his soulmate Morenike. It was a no holds barred interview. We found him to be a truthful young man who has nothing to hide. Though from a well-heeled family, Debola had to face life squarely, from age 5 when he became physically challenged. Despite his disability, he has had to develop his other abilities to come out strong and successful in life. He is a very brilliant young man, who went through school with flying colours. He is also very deep, philosophically. He is just like his dad in many ways.
We started off by asking for his impressions of his wedding. How did he see the huge & impressive guests that attended? He smiled. Many don’t know that he is a shy guy and someone who is very, very reserved. How did he take the turnout, the attendance and the colourful nature of the wedding? “It was mostly overwhelming and deeply humbling,” he explained. “I believe that my life story is just my life story. I don’t stand as a point of inspiration for people and allow people to see what happens around me, and decide on what they make of it. It has been very humbling for me. It has been humbling how people have felt, and the kind of support I have gotten from different people. It has been overwhelming. And I am more than eternally grateful for it.” What does the feedback look like?
“Positive, all around. People are happy for me. People are glad that they were there to celebrate with us. I think the most important thing was putting God first, family as well was very important to me, and my close friends who rallied around to support me, were the most important thing to me, as well. And of course, my wife being there for me, was amazing too. So, it has been overwhelmingly positive”.
Adebola Daniel has been a source of inspiration to very many young people who are challenged. How does that make him feel? “I believe fundamentally, that I am my own person. And I do not do what I do to seek to inspire. If inspiration comes from a bye product of me living my life, I am more than happy to fill that gap. But I have never looked at myself as an inspiration to anybody. I tried my best to like my life, with the way I have been trained, with the way I have been brought up by my parents. I do my best to make sure that I am a good person, fundamentally, that my conscience is always clean and I do things to the best of my ability, in everything I can possibly do.”
What were the things that helped to shape his worldview fundamentally? “My father is the No 1 person. He has always been my moral compass. At times I look to him for solutions to challenges. Whenever I am in a quagmire, I look to him to see what he would have done in such a situation. What will he do? I usually ask myself. He is a beacon of integrity to me. He is a beacon of success. He is a beacon of pride. My worldview of life view is mostly surrounded by what I think my dad would do if he was in the situation. He is someone I admire so much. Each time I look at him, I want to emulate him, every way he performs.” Is that why he took after his dad in so many aspects? For instance, is that why Adebola decided to go for Mechanical Engineering? “Maybe somewhere along the line, there was some inspiration from him. Fundamentally I am somebody who is good in Maths, Physics. If you combine Maths & Physics, the logical destination is always Engineering, sometimes Biochem. Another one of my passion personally is Cars. I deal on Cars. I have an interest in cars. I guess if you marry all that together, Engineering seems to be the obvious destination.”
“Even though I don’t actually practice Engineering, I work in Banking. I work in Treasury. But that is my first love I will say.”
So, what does Debola do fully? What is his main line of job? “I work in Treasury in an Investment bank in London. That is my main profession”. How has he found that experience? “I learnt a lot very quickly. The experience in Treasury or Banking wasn’t what I thought I was going to get into. I wanted to stay in Engineering. I stumbled into banking. But again if you are good with numbers, if you are good with manipulating data, which is a natural flair for me, you can find yourself fitting into Treasury or Banking quite quickly. And just stay there. The money is good”.
How has the experience helped him? One is to by fiscally responsible. In my field of work, you will see what an abundance of money can do to people, when people are reckless with taking loans here and there. So, it has taught me to be fiscally responsible. That is the first thing. 2ndly, it has opened my world to the possibilities out there because when you work in Treasury, you will have a toe in every industry out there. Everybody needs money for something else. And it is quite interesting to see what people need money for. So, it has actually opened my worldview into what the possibilities out there look like”.
What is his relationship like with his mum, Yeye Olufunke? “Daddy is my logical beacon, mum is my emotional beacon. Her heart is full of Joy, Warmth, Peace. A lot of times I will tell you that as a man, my decisions are based more on what will my dad do. I will also tell you that a lot my character, comes from what I believe my mother will do, because she is inspired by nature and she has a natural ability to bring people together, effortlessly, and it is something I admire greatly in her”.
How about his wife? We asked him to tell us about his wife and what the attraction is… “Morenike & I. It is a story that will be difficult to see how it clicked because I met Morenike in passing in 1999. We attended the same Primary School, in CTC, in GRA, Ikeja, Lagos. It was just a passing meeting. We didn’t interact so much. But in the last 2 to 3 years, especially during the COVID-19 lockdown, we sort of reconnected and to me it was amazing to find somebody who thinks the way I think. Who is equally driven, the way I am driven. Who is equally passionate, who knows her stuff and who is caring at the same time. She reminds me a lot about my mum. She also reminds me of my dad as well. She is a perfect balance of drive, discipline, and emotional intelligence. She is just an all-round beautiful person.
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