GTBank Staff Mourn Late MD

Since yesterday evening when the news of the death of the Managing Director of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Tayo Aderinokun, was announced, the bank has been thrown into mourning.

The news was broken to the Aderinokun family at exactly 5 p.m. yesterday that the 57-year old Tayo, who had been undergoing treatment in the United Kingdom, had died.

When P.M.NEWS visited some of the branches of the bank this morning, business transactions went on as usual, while some of the staff were seen discussing his demise.

Mrs. Aramide Awosanya, branch manager of the bank at Oba Akran Road, Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, said staff of the bank are mourning the death of their managing director, saying his death is a big loss to the bank and the nation at large.

She described him as a father and a visionary leader and not just a boss.

According to her, the death of Aderinokun has left a vacuum in the bank and that he left a legacy behind.

Awosanya added that the late managing director gave all staff opportunity to grow and improve, but noted that the bank will be a force to reckon with as the good services he has been rendering to the public will continue.

Operational Head, Ojodu branch of the bank, Mr. Chizoba Okafor, described the late managing director as the embodiment of humility.

“He was a role model. His death is a big loss to us and to the nation,” he said.

Another branch manager of the bank who doesn’t want her name mentioned, said the late managing director ran an open door policy, saying his death is a big loss to the bank.

She said she decided to wear black today to mourn the good man.

“It is a big loss. He is the reason why I am still in the banking sector, you can see that I am in black today,” she said.

One of the managers of a branch of the bank who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the deceased had left “a shoe too big for his subordinates to fill.”

The manager, who said the bank’s management had not given them the authority to speak on the incident, added that the late Aderinokun brought about the changes that have transformed the bank.

He described Aderinokun as a man with vision whose passion for the growth of the bank cannot be quantified.

“The bank will forever miss him,” he said.

A female staff of the bank who also spoke on the death of the CEO, described him as very hard-working.

According to the staff, who also pleaded anonymity, Aderinokun never took ‘no’ for an answer and knew how to motivate staff of the bank to give their best.

In a statement sent to P.M.NEWS by the bank yesterday evening announcing the demise of the Chief Executive Officer of the bank, GTB said that the late Aderinokun assisted the bank, which he co-founded in 1990, to the current enviable position among the other banks in the country.

—Kazeem Ugbodaga & Eromosele Ebhomele