Elumelu Rebukes UBA Graduate Trainee for Addressing Him as Tony

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA), Mr Tony Elumelu, expressed his displeasure over the way he was addressed by one of the company’s graduate trainees at an interactive session in a viral video.

The financial institution organised a Graduate Management Accelerated Programme graduation ceremony on Thursday, and the former banker was in attendance.

During a question-and-answer session, one of the graduating trainees stood and called Mr Elumelu by his first name, Tony.

“Good morning, Tony,” she said.

Mr Elumelu initially thought the lady meant to say Toyin, but she repeated “Good morning, Tony,” a development the UBA chairman was not happy about.

He quickly responded by saying, “No, you won’t call me Tony. You’ll call me Mr Elumelu or TOE. You won’t call me Tony, or Chairman. I don’t subscribe to that kind of… Oyinbo life, okay?”

Though without offering any apology for the error, the female graduate trainee subsequently corrected herself, saying, “Good morning, Mr Elumelu,” before proceeding with her question.

The video clip from the event has already generated mixed reactions, with many happy that the business mogul quickly rebuffed the lady.

They described her as rude, fearing she could lose her job for being disrespectful to the chairman of the organisation.

However, some others said calling colleagues by their first names in a corporate ecosystem is not new, as such happens in the banking sector.