I get that Tosin is getting a lot of backlash for his shortage of local talent statement however, I don't think that was the key message. Whilst I disagree with him on that statement, I agree 100% with the others and I think we should all be concerned about the issues raised.
@VusiThembekwayo@asemota@KenyaAirways Count me in on any Kenya Airways hate. They are so bad that they make the word bad sound good. Never flying them again.
One thing I really admired about Mehdi in that interview was how he stayed on the subject. Bwala attempted to distract him with the whole Starmer & Trump false equivalence arguments but he wouldnt bulge. Rufai would have taken the bait & they’d spend 20mins arguing about the West
Your submission is laughable, here’s why:
1. The show is called H2H which says it’s combative
2. Bwala had 6months to prepare
3. You speak of hostility as if Bwala is a baby. He’s a trained lawyer
4. Being in the opposition doesn’t mean being vile, incendiary & lacking values
Hostility Is Not Journalism. Mehdi Hassan Take Note.
There is a clear difference between tough journalism and outright hostility. One serves the public interest. The other serves the ego of the interviewer. Unfortunately, the recent exchange between @mehdirhasan and presidential spokesperson @BwalaDaniel fell squarely into the latter category.
What viewers witnessed was not a serious interview. It was an attempted public ambush.
From the outset, the tone was aggressively confrontational. Questions were framed less as inquiries into governance and more as prosecutorial traps. Responses were repeatedly interrupted before they could develop. Clarifications were brushed aside. The atmosphere was unmistakable: this was not a conversation designed to inform viewers but a spectacle designed to embarrass the guest.
Serious journalism does not operate this way.
The craft of interviewing demands discipline. It requires the ability to ask difficult questions while still allowing the guest to articulate answers. It requires intellectual confidence strong enough to permit disagreement without descending into open hostility. Above all, it requires a commitment to substance over theatrics.
That commitment was glaringly absent.
Nigeria is currently grappling with a range of serious national challenges economic restructuring, security threats, governance reforms, and the complex work of stabilizing a large and dynamic democracy. A responsible interviewer would have used the opportunity to interrogate the administration’s policies on these matters: What strategies are being deployed? What reforms are underway? What outcomes should citizens expect?
Instead, viewers were treated to an exercise in selective outrage and repetitive interruption.
Even more troubling was the insinuation that political realignment is somehow illegitimate. Democratic politics is built on shifting alliances. Individuals and movements evolve. Former opponents become partners when national circumstances demand cooperation. This is neither shocking nor dishonorable; it is one of the defining characteristics of democratic political life.
History provides countless examples. Leaders across the world have entered alliances with former adversaries when the demands of governance required it. To pretend otherwise is either intellectual dishonesty or a deliberate attempt to create sensationalism where none exists.
But the deeper problem in the interview was tone.
A journalist who openly ridicules or repeatedly attempts to humiliate a guest crosses an important professional boundary. The role of the interviewer is to hold power accountable not to behave like a courtroom prosecutor seeking a viral “gotcha” moment. When the pursuit of humiliation replaces the pursuit of insight, journalism loses its credibility.
Audiences deserve better than that.
They deserve interviews that illuminate policy, probe governance, and help citizens understand how leaders intend to confront the pressing challenges of the day. What they do not need is a theatrical performance in which hostility is mistaken for intellectual rigor.
Respectful engagement does not weaken journalism; it strengthens it. Firm questioning does not require contempt. Professionalism does not require aggression.
If global media wishes to retain its claim to moral authority as a watchdog of democracy, it must remember a basic principle: the goal of journalism is to inform the public, not to stage spectacles at the expense of civility and substance.
The interview in question did neither. It was not a demonstration of fearless journalism. It was a demonstration of how easily the craft can slide into something far less admirable when provocation becomes the objective and professionalism is abandoned.
Otunba Segun Showunmi
The Alternative
With over 1.3M impressions, I hope your payout from Elon makes up for the embarrassment you have suffered. Also, now that it has been established that you’re dishonest, I hope the President agrees that you can no longer speak for him because no one would believe both of you. 🤷🏽♂️
PRESS STATEMENT
In the last 24 hours, social media has exploded over my interview with Mehdi Hassan, albeit with varied opinions. Let me set the record straight.
When I signed on to the privileged job granted to me by Mr. President, I was well aware of its implications. Selling ice cream, looking fine, and seeking the praises of men were never part of it. Some of the fiercest critics of my interview can not even stand local TV anchors. But the task of promoting and defending the President and his administration is what I do with ease and joy. I am prepared to appear before any interviewer, anywhere in the world, any day and at any time, to defend this government and its policies.
I have never, and will never, subscribe to ducking or dodging interviews on matters that concern promoting and defending the administration I was appointed to serve. It is the least of what is required of me.
Head to Head contacted me requesting an interview, stating that they wanted to challenge our government on security, the economy, and corruption. Nowhere in our almost six months of communication did they mention that they were going to challenge my past. If that had been their plan, ethically and professionally, they were supposed to inform me so I could prepare my response. But that’s okay, ethically, that is on them, not on me.
I refused to swallow the pill of Mehdi’s “opposition research-style journalism,” and even today, if you carefully compare what he read as quotes from organisations and groups, you will see that many were inaccurate and some were outright fake news. But I will leave that for another day.
As for what I said about President Tinubu in the past, I am glad those were things I said when I was in the opposition saddle with such zeal. It is all politics. Half of Donald Trump’s cabinet is made up of people who once spoke against him, and quite a number of people in our own cabinet also spoke against President Tinubu in the past. Those things do not bother him if you care to know.
The majority of the naysayers are members of the opposition and their sympathisers. It does not bother me one bit. Their temporary excitement over the interview has not lasted and will not last, because it does not take away their obvious problem of lack of vision, mission in conducting and managing a political party; yet they seek to manage Nigeria. Clearly they have no path to victory and no alternative policies or program for the Nigerian people. And if they say they do, they can as well go to head to head and be interrogated on that; as the saying in Hausa goes “Ga fili Ga doki”
I conclude by thanking the many Nigerians and non-Nigerians who sent in their commendations over my brave defence of our government in an interview where the anchor would hardly let you answer a question unless it suited his narrative.
I still have admiration and respect for Mehdi Hassan as arguably the best debater on the planet. I look forward to part two of the Head to Head interview, and I am glad that by then questions about my past will no longer be news so that we can focus on our administration’s policies, programs and what we have achieved so far.
Stay tuned.
– D.H Bwala
Special Adviser to President on Media and Policy Communication
(State House)
Saturday March 7, 2026
Hey Daniel Bwala,
I understand your pain but sadly, it was self-inflicted & long overdue. Actions should have consequences so hopefully you can learn from this and stop playing politics of hate & lousiness, with zero principles. Mehdi didn’t blindside you, he showed you a mirror
PRESS STATEMENT
In the last 24 hours, social media has exploded over my interview with Mehdi Hassan, albeit with varied opinions. Let me set the record straight.
When I signed on to the privileged job granted to me by Mr. President, I was well aware of its implications. Selling ice cream, looking fine, and seeking the praises of men were never part of it. Some of the fiercest critics of my interview can not even stand local TV anchors. But the task of promoting and defending the President and his administration is what I do with ease and joy. I am prepared to appear before any interviewer, anywhere in the world, any day and at any time, to defend this government and its policies.
I have never, and will never, subscribe to ducking or dodging interviews on matters that concern promoting and defending the administration I was appointed to serve. It is the least of what is required of me.
Head to Head contacted me requesting an interview, stating that they wanted to challenge our government on security, the economy, and corruption. Nowhere in our almost six months of communication did they mention that they were going to challenge my past. If that had been their plan, ethically and professionally, they were supposed to inform me so I could prepare my response. But that’s okay, ethically, that is on them, not on me.
I refused to swallow the pill of Mehdi’s “opposition research-style journalism,” and even today, if you carefully compare what he read as quotes from organisations and groups, you will see that many were inaccurate and some were outright fake news. But I will leave that for another day.
As for what I said about President Tinubu in the past, I am glad those were things I said when I was in the opposition saddle with such zeal. It is all politics. Half of Donald Trump’s cabinet is made up of people who once spoke against him, and quite a number of people in our own cabinet also spoke against President Tinubu in the past. Those things do not bother him if you care to know.
The majority of the naysayers are members of the opposition and their sympathisers. It does not bother me one bit. Their temporary excitement over the interview has not lasted and will not last, because it does not take away their obvious problem of lack of vision, mission in conducting and managing a political party; yet they seek to manage Nigeria. Clearly they have no path to victory and no alternative policies or program for the Nigerian people. And if they say they do, they can as well go to head to head and be interrogated on that; as the saying in Hausa goes “Ga fili Ga doki”
I conclude by thanking the many Nigerians and non-Nigerians who sent in their commendations over my brave defence of our government in an interview where the anchor would hardly let you answer a question unless it suited his narrative.
I still have admiration and respect for Mehdi Hassan as arguably the best debater on the planet. I look forward to part two of the Head to Head interview, and I am glad that by then questions about my past will no longer be news so that we can focus on our administration’s policies, programs and what we have achieved so far.
Stay tuned.
– D.H Bwala
Special Adviser to President on Media and Policy Communication
(State House)
Saturday March 7, 2026
@IsantimWeb3@Christo57408079@lanreRMCF@ruffydfire We are talking about 11:30pm in Lagos here not a remote village. Also, how is telling people to stay indoors the solution to insecurity and not arresting the unscrupulous elements? Let’s always try to be objective with a sustainable solution-driven mindset.
Love & Light Brotherly