Bwala accuses Al Jazeera of ‘opposition-style journalism’ over past anti-Tinubu comments
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Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, has accused Al Jazeera of practising what he called ‘opposition-style journalism’ after his interview on “Head to Head” took him to task over his past comments against President Bola Tinubu.
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On the programme hosted by Mehdi Hasan, which examined Tinubu’s administration under the theme “Nigeria: ‘Renewed Hope’ or ‘Hopelessness’?”, Bwala was confronted with past quotes, video clips, and statements from his time in the opposition – when he was aligned with former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.
The interview went viral, to which Bwala responded in a statement.
In the statement, Bwala stressed that he remained “prepared to appear before any interviewer, anywhere in the world, any day and at any time, to defend this government and its policies.”
He said ‘Head to Head’ contacted him requesting an interview to challenge Tinubu’s government on security, the economy, and corruption.
However, he noted, “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. I refused to swallow the pill of Mehdi’s ‘opposition research-style journalism,’ and even today, if you carefully compare what he read as quotes from organisations and groups, you will see that many were inaccurate and some were outright fake news.
“But I will leave that for another day. As for what I said about President Tinubu in the past, I am glad those were things I said when I was in the opposition saddle with such zeal. It is all politics.
“Half of Donald Trump’s cabinet is made up of people who once spoke against him, and quite a number of people in our own cabinet also spoke against President Tinubu in the past. Those things do not bother him if you care to know.
“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, mission in conducting and managing a political party; yet they seek to manage Nigeria.
“Clearly they have no path to victory and no alternative policies or program for the Nigerian people. And if they say they do, they can as well go to head to head and be interrogated on that; as the saying in Hausa goes ‘Ga fili Ga doki'”.
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