‘I Underwent Throat Surgery Days After Interview With Mehdi Hasan’ – Daniel Bwala 

The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, recently underwent throat surgery a few days after his controversial interview with journalist Mehdi Hasan of Al Jazeera.

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Naija News reports that Bwala made this known during an appearance on News Central’s programme, 60 Minutes with Mr Kay, while addressing reactions to the interview and criticism from netizens online.

Recall that Bwala’s interview with Hasan sparked immediate backlash online, with many netizens and opposition politicians describing the outing as an embarrassment.

Responding to the criticism, Bwala said, “Eight days after the interview with Mehdi Hasan, I underwent surgery on my throat. I don’t know whether it is the ‘Obidient’ people that threw that African thing, but in any case, I’m back and strong.

“I know the environment I come from; it’s an environment where there exists a species of ‘Trojans’ of social media called the ‘Obidient,’ who do not care about the national interest or the security of Nigeria and will do everything possible to achieve the aim of their hero, no matter the cost.” 

Bwala further defended his performance during the interview, describing Hasan’s approach as opposition-style journalism.

According to the presidential aide, Hasan’s questions were focused on his past criticisms of Tinubu’s administration while he was in the opposition.

Bwala added that he repeatedly cautioned Hasan against persisting in the same line of questioning because it was not the purpose of the interview.

He stressed, “What Mehdi Hasan did was what we call opposition-style journalism, where you play the role of the opposition. In that interview, Mehdi sought to elicit information from me to discredit the government, but he could not.

“In the first 15 minutes, he started by asking me to answer questions relating to things I said about President Tinubu when I was in the opposition.

“Repeatedly, I admitted to them I even said I had said more than what he mentioned, but I asked that we move on to the purpose of the interview.” 

“He continued doing it, and at a point, I warned him that if he kept going in that direction, I would deny it. He continued, and that was why I kept denying.”