Mr Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, says Al Jazeera has privately apologised to him over a controversial interview aired earlier this year, adding that the matter is currently before a court in England.
Bwala disclosed this while speaking on The Morayo Show, where he alleged that the international broadcaster admitted it should have informed him beforehand that his past criticisms of President Tinubu would be a major focus of the interview.
According to him, he rejected the private apology and requested that it be made public.
“They apologised to me privately. I said they should put it on social media. They said they would not because it would affect their credibility,” he said.
Bwala appeared on Al Jazeera’s Head to Head programme in March, hosted by Mehdi Hasan, where he was questioned over previous comments he made while serving as spokesperson for former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s presidential campaign.
During the interview, Hasan confronted Bwala with video clips of his past criticisms of Tinubu and asked him about his decision to later support the President.
The exchange generated widespread reactions on social media, with clips from the interview circulating widely.
Bwala said he had instructed lawyers in England to institute legal action against the broadcaster, alleging that the interview was edited in a manner that misrepresented his responses.
He claimed that producers removed an opening segment where he acknowledged making the earlier comments about Tinubu but explained that they were outside the agreed scope of the interview.
According to him, the omission created an impression that he was denying his previous statements rather than providing context.
“My advisers in England said it is a case of defamation of character,” Bwala said, adding that the matter was now before the court.
Al Jazeera has not publicly confirmed the alleged apology or commented on the legal claims at the time of the report.
