So a UBA graduate trainee greets Tony Elumelu with “Good morning, Tony” at the GMAP graduation ceremony in Lagos, and he stops her cold: “No, you won’t call me Tony. You’ll call me Mr Elumelu or TOE… I don’t subscribe to that kind of Oyinbo life.” She corrects herself and moves on. Video goes viral, Naija Twitter/X splits into two camps instantly.
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My take: She was out of line. This is Nigeria, not Silicon Valley, and respect for elders/seniority isn’t optional, especially in front of everyone at a formal ceremony. Some are even calling it “lack of home training.”
She did nothing wrong. GMAP allegedly trains people to use first names internally, a Stanford student called him “Tony” on camera back in 2022 and he laughed it off, and honestly the backlash on a young woman feels disproportionate (a priest and even an activist have weighed in defending her).