- Arise Television host Rufai Oseni criticised Daniel Bwala after his interview on Al Jazeera’s Head to Head sparked widespread reactions online
- Oseni argued that Bwala denied earlier criticisms he had made about President Bola Ahmed Tinubu before joining the administration
- He said Bwala selectively presented information and warned that opposition figures must rely on verifiable, empirical facts in political debates
The host of Arise Television’s Morning Show, Rufai Oseni, has criticised Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Policy Communication, over his recent interview on the programme Head to Head.
Oseni made the remarks during Monday’s edition of the Morning Show, where he warned that individuals who play opposition roles must rely on verifiable and empirical facts when engaging in political debates.
His reaction followed Bwala’s appearance on Head to Head, a programme on Al Jazeera anchored by journalist Mehdi Hasan. The interview has generated significant reactions online and among political commentators.
During the interview, Bwala reportedly denied making some of the critical statements he had previously directed at President Tinubu before he was appointed as a presidential aide.
The development sparked criticism from several observers, including Oseni, who argued that some of Bwala’s past comments about the president were widely known and could have been referenced during the interview.
According to Oseni, the interview did not fully explore the numerous public statements Bwala had made in the past.
“Bwala came back to fact-check him (Mehdi) and said he was wrong,” Oseni said during the programme.
“Like I said, maybe Mehdi didn’t do his job well because there were so much. How will he explain ‘Even if you give Tinubu 30 years, nothing will work’? Then it goes on like that. And that’s why I say people doing opposition should stick to the facts, empirical facts.”
Oseni further accused Bwala of selectively presenting information, suggesting that the presidential aide was “cherry-picking” facts to support his current position.
The television host also recalled a previous appearance by Bwala on an Arise Television programme, where similar issues were raised about the apparent contradiction between his earlier criticisms of Tinubu and his present role in the administration.
“I’m not surprised,” Oseni said. “When he came here that day, this was the same question we posed to him that some of his supporters were saying he had answered well.”
He added that many of the facts cited by Bwala during his defence were selective and not based on comprehensive evidence.
“The last point I want to make based on all his fact-checks: he is just cherry-picking, and the cherry-picking are never based on empirical,” Oseni said.