The Daniel Bwala interview with Mehdi Hasan on AlJazeera‘s Head to Head programme was a disaster of gargantuan proportions for Nigeria as a country, for President Tinubu’s administration, and for Bwala himself. Of these three, the last is the least important, because Bwala’s track record speaks for itself.
The interview made a spectacle of Nigeria, not just because of the reach of the program globally, but also the format in which there was a global audience in the room itself. What will EACH of those people think about Nigeria after such a fact-based shredding of the country’s leadership and its performance? It was a sad commentary on Nigeria’s political culture in which there are no beliefs, no policies, no ideology, just crass opportunism and the battle for political power. Turn-coatism is “it”.
Second, the fact that Bwala, given his record, is sent out to speak for the President of Nigeria on the international stage says much about the standards by which government in Nigeria recruits people for specific roles. In that universe “loyalty”, fleeting though it may be, is all that counts. Competence doesn’t. Mediocrity reigns.
Thirdly, why appoint former attack dogs of the political opposition as spokespersons and Ambassadors for the administration simply because they have “defected”? The baggage such individuals carry (especially when they did not simply espouse principled opposition that may later change, as sometimes happens in politics, but rather used incendiary and personalized attacks on President Tinubu)renders such persons lacking in credibility in representational roles. Bwala was left trying to eat his words with bare-faced lies!
I think there are people who could be far more credible spokesmen and women for Nigeria’s government, even with all its underperformance in governance. At least, the discussion will focus on the actual track record of the government, not on the government spokesman’s prior condemnations of that track record.
It was a sad day for our country. I’ve received several calls from friends from various countries around the world. All were in shock and felt sorry to see Nigeria placed in such a spot. So many people are waiting and hoping for when our country will “wake up” and take its rightful place under the sun. The citizens of Nigeria are brilliant, hardworking and respected all over the world, breaking barriers and achieving feats in various spheres. The government and incompetent governance of Nigeria by its politicians remains a sorry tale.
