The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on Friday apologised for the description of the newly elected President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Akinwumi Adesina as ‘flamboyant.’
Mr Adesina was re-elected as the President of the bank on Thursday.
Reporting the re-election of the AfDB President, BBC wrote: “Flamboyant Nigerian banker Akinwumi Adesina has been re-elected chairman of the African Development Bank (AfDB) after weathering a political storm over allegations of corruption.”
However, the word ‘flamboyant’ raised heavy backlash from Nigerians and other Africans on social media.
Many comments accused the media house of bias against the former agriculture minister.
The organisation was also accused of fueling the already concluded probe of Mr Adesina. He was earlier quizzed this year over allegations of misconduct but the bank found the allegations to be “frivolous” and he was cleared afterwards.
Reactions to the word ‘flamboyant’ used to describe Akinwumi Adesina
“Who signed off on this? This is far from BBC standard.
- What’s the “flamboyant” doing here?
- “Banker” is hardly the way to describe his professional life.
- “President” of AfDB, not “Chairman”
Or are you people now into parody ni?” Tolu Ogunlesi, a presidential aide, wrote.
Another Twitter user posted “Flamboyant”.
“That word in an article by BBC to my mind recalls British categorisation of our pre-Independence National Leaders in flowing robes – flamboyant.
“Funny part is you’d rarely find a pix of Akinwunmi Adesina in anything other than dark coloured suits.”
“Morning @BBCAfrica. Whether you like, call him flamboyant, (agungun la, agungun tete), no skin off our noses. In fact we own it. He is our own @akin_adesina of the AfDB. Yes! He is lively, dapper in a suit, expressive in face, solid brains & he is Nigerian. That’s the way we roll,” said a Twitter user.
BBC admits error
However, in a tweet on Friday evening, BBC admitted its error and posted the corrected version of the report.
This was also reflected in the section dedicated to African reports on its website.
“Correction 28 August: We have removed the description of Dr Akinwumi Adesina as “flamboyant” from this post. We recognise this – absolutely unintentionally – may have caused offence, and is irrelevant. We have also corrected Dr Adesina’s title. He is of course president of the African Development Bank, not chairman,” the news organisation wrote.