Elder Adeyinka A. Ojediran

General Authority Seventy

April 2020 general conference was “an unforgettable weekend” for Elder Adeyinka A. Ojediran.

The Church convert was sustained as a General Authority Seventy—a first for a Nigerian and West African Latter-day Saint. His overwhelming gratitude and joy increased even more when President Russell M. Nelson announced that Nigeria’s third temple would be built in Benin City.

“I wasn’t expecting that,” Elder Ojediran said, smiling broadly. “To hear our prophet say another temple would be built in Nigeria was really, really wonderful. For me, it was a confirmation that the work of the Lord is moving quickly. We all have a lot to do to prepare God’s children for His Son’s Second Coming.”

Born in Ibadan, Nigeria, on April 5, 1967, to Amos Adeniyi and Caroline Anike Ojediran, Adeyinka Ayodeji Ojediran received a bachelor’s degree in botany at the University of Ilorin in 1991 before later earning a master of business administration degree from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology. He pursued a career in finance and business administration as a professional chartered accountant. He was working as a business finance manager for Shell Nigeria before his call as a General Authority.

Three years after his baptism, he met Olufunmilayo Omolola Akinbebije at a social function. The two eventually began dating, but employment in different cities meant “we just kept in touch by phone.”

The couple eventually married in Nigeria in 1998 and were sealed in the Johannesburg South Africa Temple on November 14, 2002. The Ojedirans have one daughter.

Elder Ojediran is grateful for every Church calling he has received since joining the Church in 1990 when he was 23. Each ecclesiastical assignment has helped him grow and has given him sacred opportunities to help others develop in their respective callings and duties.

Elder Ojediran, serving as an Area Seventy at the time of his call, has also served as a counselor in a mission presidency, stake president, counselor in a stake presidency, bishop, counselor in a bishopric, and branch president.