From travelling the world with his father to experience major sporting events as a child to building one of Nigeria’s most influential boxing platforms, Dr. Ezekiel Adamu is proving that conviction – not hope – can change the course of a sport. Vanessa Obioha writes
The first thing you’d learn about Dr. Ezekiel Adamu, the Chief Executive Officer of Balmoral Group and owner of Chaos in the Ring, is that he has little patience for the phrase “I hope.” Mention it, and he winces. To him, hope is no substitute for conviction. He prefers certainty, decisiveness and action over words that, in his view, often mask hesitation or absolve people of responsibility.
The lesson came quickly during our virtual interview. In the course of our conversation, I casually used the phrase “I hope.” His media adviser, Latasha Ngwube, immediately interjected. “We don’t use that phrase around him,” she said. Adamu smiled.
It is easy to understand why he refrains from the phrase. Throughout his career, Adamu has ventured into spaces many people only dream of entering.
Born into a family steeped in sports – his father is a former sports administrator in Nigeria, while his younger brother is the current General Secretary of CAF – Adamu developed an early fascination with sporting events. As a child, he travelled to major sporting events with his father, but what captivated him most was the transformation of spaces. He marvelled at how an ordinary road or open field could become the centre of a global sporting spectacle, only to return to its original state once the event was over and the structures dismantled.
