Loading ...ABUJA, NIGERIA — The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Policy Communication, Barrister Daniel Bwala, has revealed that international news network Al Jazeera tendered a private apology to him over its controversial and widely circulated Head to Head interview segment.
Speaking during an appearance on Morayo Afolabi-Brown’s television show on Wednesday, Bwala disclosed that while the Doha-based broadcaster acknowledged violating its own editorial ethics during the production, it rejected his demands to make the apology public—a development that has now forced his legal team to file a defamation suit in England.
The March 2026 Debacle
The fallout traces back to a highly explosive interview recorded at Conway Hall and broadcast in March 2026. Host Mehdi Hasan extensively grilled Bwala on air, using archival footage and past quotes to confront the presidential aide with highly critical statements he made against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu prior to joining the administration.
The segment went viral across West Africa, with opposition actors describing Bwala’s visible evasion and denials as a massive public relations disaster for the presidency.
However, Bwala has pushed back against the narrative, characterizing the program as a heavily edited “opposition research-style” smear campaign rather than objective journalism.
“The substance of the apology was that they should have told me that part of what they discussed with me was a talking point, that they were also going to interrogate me on my credibility for supporting the person I had attacked before,” Bwala explained. “By their own ethics, they ought to have told me that, but they said they were sorry they didn’t.”
“They Cut Out Clapping for Me”
The presidential aide accused the network of manipulating the raw footage to protect Hasan’s reputation as a fierce interrogator while making the Nigerian representative look incompetent.
According to Bwala, the live session ran for one hour and 30 minutes, but Al Jazeera compressed it down to a 49-minute broadcast, selectively removing segments that exposed flaws in Hasan’s arguments.
| Grievance Layer | Bwala’s Core Allegations of Editorial Malpractice |
| Non-Disclosure | Failed to notify the guest that his personal political reversals would form the central premise. |
| Selective Editing | Cut out 41 minutes of footage, including parts where Bwala fact-checked the host. |
| Audience Manipulation | Retained crowd applause for Hasan while completely scrubbing applause for Bwala. |
| Contextual Deception | Played old opposition clips consecutively without giving the guest adequate room to respond. |
Bwala stated that when he confronted the network with these breaches, they opted to settle the matter quietly behind closed doors.
“They apologised to me privately. I said they should put it on social media. They said they will not put it on social media, it will affect their credibility, because it’s not just them, but their other programmers at the Al Jazeera network too,” the presidential aide stated.
Legal Action Initiated in England
Bwala revealed he consulted with international media analysts, including British broadcaster Piers Morgan through an intermediary, who reportedly agreed that Al Jazeera’s handling of the pre-recorded segment crossed ethical boundaries.
Because the network refused to issue a public retraction to correct the viral damage done to his reputation, Bwala confirmed that his UK-based legal counsel has formally approached the courts in England to press defamation charges.
The Presidential Villa has remained supportive of Bwala’s aggressive pushback, viewable as part of a broader stance against international media outlets that the administration believes are deliberately biased against the current Nigerian government.
