Arise News Morning Show anchor, Oseni Rufai, has slammed Daniel Bwala, a media aide to President Bola Tinubu over his claim that his recent interview with Al Jazeera’s Hasan Mehdi was doctored.
Bwala, a Presidential spokesperson on policy communication for the president had during a recent interview with Daddy Freeze, accused Al Jazeera of selectively editing his recent interview, alleging that the cuts created a misleading narrative that fueled incorrect opinions on social media.
Recall that the interview titled Head to head with Daniel bwala and Al Jazeera journalist Mehdi Hasan received backlash from various Nigerians calling bwala an embarrasment to the nation.
“There is real accountable journalism, and that’s what Mehdi practices,” Rufai said while talking about Bwala’s embarrassing moment. “What is obvious is that most Nigerian officials are used to being pampered.
“Before, they used to send them the questions for the interview in advance. They used to give them areas of concentration. That’s what a lot of them are used to.
“So they keep citing the BBC standard, which is obviously colonial standard, which is also colonial standard, baked around respect for governmental officials.
“Number one, Bwala claims that the interview was doctored but the first place I saw the interview was on Bwala’s page. So was it the doctored version he shared on this page?
“Did you watch it before you posted it on your page? And why didn’t he raise concerns then? Why was it after the backlash, that concerns were raised?
“The second part of this conversation, I also have to ask is, yes, you claim that it was doctored, but we saw the interaction and we saw the answers you gave. You also cited the part you said, oh, people in opposition will normally oppose.
“And the same eight minutes…So it was not that they were adding extra materials, it was the quote that Bwala himself said, and they just added the videos to be able to make it (clearer.)”
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