Phrank Shaibu, a Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, made fun of presidential media assistant Daniel Bwala for what he called a “embarrassing outing” during an interview on Al Jazeera’s Head to Head.
The Sunday Guardian says that political opponents have criticized the interview, which was hosted by journalist Mehdi Hasan, saying that Bwala had a hard time defending the policies of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
Shaibu said in a statement yesterday in Abuja that Bwala’s political path had been shaped by what he called the “opportunistic merchandising of allegiance.”
He told the presidential assistant to stop giving Nigerians “moral lectures about courage and conviction.”
He thought it was funny that Bwala suddenly found “courage and rhetorical flourish,” given what he said was a habit of changing political commitments.
“His political path has been shaped less by conviction and more by the opportunistic sale of loyalty,” Shaibu remarked.
He further said that Bwala had earlier asked the Atiku media team for help spreading the story that the president and his friends were threatening his life.
Shaibu claimed, “We still have his message asking the Atiku Media Team to put out a press release saying that President Tinubu and his friends were threatening his life.”
“He was really adamant that we spread that story at the time. We said no on purpose because we saw it for what it was: a silly and cynical attempt at political theater.
Shaibu also didn’t like Bwala’s defense of the administration during the Al Jazeera interview. He said that the show showed how Bwala’s prior views were at odds with his current viewpoint.
He said that the interviewer brought up things Bwala had said in the past about President Tinubu, which prompted him backtrack and say that his earlier comments were just “politics.”
He said that this kind of reasoning was morally wrong, especially given the country’s security problems.
Shaibu added, “The loss of thousands of Nigerian lives to insecurity over the past two years cannot be dismissed as just politics.”
He went on to say that Bwala had a hard time reconciling his earlier critiques with his current job supporting the regime. He also said that the interview showed flaws in the government’s arguments.
Shaibu also made fun of the presidential aide’s English throughout the interview, saying he made mistakes with grammar.
“How does a ‘lawyer,’ someone who is so eager to preach about competence, manage to show such basic illiteracy in English?” he said.
“Water” is an uncountable noun, just so you know. People don’t say, “this is a water.” One says, “This is water” or “A glass of water.”
Shaibu ended by saying that Bwala was trying to frame changing political allegiance as moral stances.
He responded, “History keeps receipts, and so do we.”
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