Isaac Sameul
Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Media and Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, has accused the host of Head to Head on Al Jazeera, Mehdi Hasan, of spreading “fake news” during a tense interview that has generated widespread reactions.
Clips from the programme, which aired on Thursday, circulated widely on social media, with many critics describing Bwala’s performance as embarrassing after the anchor confronted him with past statements in which he had criticised Tinubu before joining the administration.
The interview, hosted by British journalist Mehdi Hasan, sparked widespread reactions on social media after clips from the discussion circulated online, with critics describing Bwala’s outing as embarrassing.
During the programme, Hasan confronted Bwala with past comments in which he had criticised Tinubu before joining the administration. The remarks were reportedly made before Bwala defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the ruling All Progressives Congress.
At one point in the interview, the host presented video clips of some of the past statements attributed to Bwala after the presidential aide denied making them, a development that triggered further reactions online.
Hasan also pressed him on Nigeria’s worsening security situation, citing reports by international human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Reacting to the criticism in a statement on Saturday, Bwala dismissed the backlash, describing many of his critics as opposition supporters whose reactions would not distract him from his duties.
According to him, the excitement generated by the interview among critics was temporary and did not change what he described as the opposition’s lack of a clear vision or programme for the country.
Bwala also rejected suggestions that his performance during the interview was inadequate, stating that his responsibility was to defend the administration of President Tinubu and promote its policies.
According to Bwala, the “majority of the naysayers are members of the opposition and their sympathisers. It does not bother me one bit.
“Their temporary excitement over the interview has not lasted and will not last, because it does not take away their obvious problem of lack of vision and mission in conducting and managing a political party”, he added.
He explained that producers of the programme had contacted him nearly six months earlier for an interview focused on issues such as security, the economy and corruption, but did not indicate that questions would centre on his past statements.
The presidential aide argued that it would have been more professional for the producers to inform him beforehand if they intended to interrogate his previous remarks.
“Nowhere in our almost six months of communication did they mention that they were going to challenge my past. If that had been their plan, ethically and professionally, they were supposed to inform me so I could prepare my response. But that’s okay, ethically, that is on them, not on me”, he stated.
Bwala further accused the programme’s host of using what he described as “opposition research-style journalism,” alleging that some of the quotations attributed to him during the interview were inaccurate while others amounted to “fake news.”
On his past criticism of Tinubu before joining the government, Bwala said such shifts were common in partisan politics, noting that political figures often change positions after joining different administrations.
He maintained that he remained willing to appear on any platform to defend the policies and achievements of the Tinubu administration.
Despite his reservations about the conduct of the interview, Bwala described Hasan as “arguably the best debater on the planet,” adding that he still had respect and admiration for the journalist.
