The Presidential spokesman alleges broadcaster edited out key context from his explosive Mehdi Hasan interview, says defamation suit is now before an English court.
Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, has alleged that international broadcaster Al Jazeera privately apologised to him over a controversial televised interview that went viral earlier this year but declined to make the apology public for fear of damaging its own credibility.
Bwala also disclosed that the dispute has escalated into a legal battle in England, where he said his lawyers have filed a defamation case against the Qatar-based media organisation.
Speaking during an appearance on The Morayo Show, the presidential aide claimed Al Jazeera later acknowledged that it should have informed him beforehand that his credibility and previous criticism of President Bola Tinubu—not government policy—would become the central focus of the interview.
According to Bwala, the broadcaster conveyed its apology privately after the programme aired.
“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, where host Mehdi Hasan repeatedly confronted him with archived video clips and public statements from his time as spokesperson for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s 2023 presidential campaign.
Throughout the interview, Hasan challenged Bwala over his past criticisms of Tinubu and pressed him to explain his political transition from one of the President’s fiercest critics to one of his closest advisers. The tense exchange quickly gained traction online, generating widespread debate across social media.
However, Bwala now contends that the programme viewers watched was materially different from the interview he gave.
He alleged that Al Jazeera’s producers edited out a crucial opening exchange in which he acknowledged making the earlier remarks about Tinubu but informed the interviewer that those comments fell outside the scope of the interview that had been agreed in advance.
According to him, removing that segment fundamentally altered the context of his answers and created the false impression that he was denying making the earlier statements.
Bwala said the alleged editing damaged his reputation and prompted him to seek legal redress in England.
“My advisers in England said it is a case of defamation of character,” he said, adding that the matter is now before an English court.
Neither Al Jazeera nor the programme’s host, Mehdi Hasan, had publicly responded to Bwala’s latest claims at the time of this report.
If confirmed, the case could test the legal boundaries between editorial discretion and alleged reputational harm in high-profile political interviews, particularly where disputes arise over selective editing and the presentation of recorded exchanges.
