After carefully watching Daniel Bwala’s interview on Head to Head with Mehdi Hassan, I decided to go through the questions that actually got Daniel Bwala in the Lion’s den.
The moderator Mehdi Hassan known for his fierce questioning and matching of questions with facts and data, confronted Daniel Bwala with statements he made in the past about his new principal President Tinubu, but Bwala denied the statememts vehemently until he was confronted with facts and videos where he made the statements.
Now let’s consider the statements made by Daniel Bwala against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who was the flag bearer for the APC in the 2023 presidential election.
Bwala who worked as the spokesperson for the PDP candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar made the following statement during the election campaign:
1. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu created a militia and a militants arm leading to the 2023 election.
2. There is also the issue of threat to life because I, myself have received threat to my life from Asiwaju’s camp and his people.
3. Asiwaju was so corrupt that it was stated by Nigerians and it made me so sick that I found it very hard eating food for three days.
4. There is only one person who has moved money through bullion vans in Nigeria and that person is on their ballot as their presidential candidate, and that is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who used bullion vans to transport money during election.
I have looked through these statements credited to Daniel Bwala by Mehdi Hassan which made Daniel Bwala fall flat when confronted with facts and videos after his several denials.
The pathetic performance of the presidential spokesman has drawn negative comments, and even sympathetic comments round the world. But I chose to look at things from a different prism, which I have often complained about our style of campaign during elections in Nigeria.
Campaigns generally is about selling your candidate to voters. There are instances where you may take a few slights at the opposition but the crux of any campaign is to loud and laud the achievements of your candidate to voters so they can chose who they want in the leadership seat.
I have carefully examined all the rhetorics that got Daniel Bwala into trouble during his interview with Mehdi Hassan.
Daniel Bwala said things about Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu that neither sold his candidate Abubakar Atiku, neither did those words give his candidate any cutting edge during the election.
It was obvious that Bwala was lazy at researching materials that could endear the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party during the 2023 presidential election, to the people, perhaps his candidate had nothing that made him sellable to the voting public.
Instead Daniel Bwala chose the easy route of denigrating and casting aspersions on the opposition candidate, which only thrilled audience at campaign grounds but not enough to persuade voters to side with Bwala’s candidate, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku.
This should serve as a lesson to all involved in campaigns. Focus on your candidate, sell your candidate to voters and stop denigrating opponents. Particularly spokespersons who do not have the decency to stick to an ideology but criss-cross parties for green pastures, your words may come back to hunt you at the least expected moment and instance.
I am reminded of a simple prayer we used to pray back in children Sunday School class, after every teaching “may these words not stand against us in judgement”.
Daniel Bwala’s words stood against him at the judgement seat before Mehdi Hassan, and rest assured those words will hunt him in more days to come. Next time, he will learn the trade of decency during campaigns and research enough to sell his candidate than denigrate opponents.
*Olutunbosun Osifowora writes from Tirosogun in Ijebu-Ife, Ogun State, Nigeria.
