With Friends Like These: The Curious Case of Daniel Bwala

By Keem Abdul

It was said of the notorious Josef Goebbels, propaganda minister for Adolf Hitler’s Nazi government in 1930s Germany, that he could argue one position – with tremendous intensity and eloquence – in the morning, and then argue the exact opposite position – with equal, if not greater, intensity – in the evening of that same day. There are those who might attribute that ability to a high intellect.

But the problem with such people, according to an anonymous writer, is that sooner or later – due to wearing so many faces all the time – they forget which face is real.
Perhaps this dual ability (to wear many faces as occasion demands, and to present each one, with equal conviction, as his real face) is the reason President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was so quick to appoint as his Special Adviser on Policy Communication, Dr. Daniel Hassan Bwala, lately spokesperson for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (the President’s main rival for Nigeria’s top political office in the 2023 presidential election) when Bwala abruptly left the Atiku camp following Tinubu’s ascension to the Presidency.

Bwala is undoubtedly intelligent and articulate. In the course of his odyssey in national politics, he has ascended to the pinnacle of communication management, thanks to his gift for sophistry and a profound understanding of the media’s intricacies – even though, unlike the President’s two other official spokespersons, Bayo Onanuga and Sunday Dare, he is not a trained journalist or public relations expert.. This gift has enabled him to navigate the corridors of power with relative ease. Over the years, Bwala has garnered public attention for his incisive commentary on national issues, via high-profile interviews on national television and press columns. A trained lawyer, he has also leveraged his legal expertise to provide useful insights into the country’s socio-political landscape. An adjunct lecturer and external examiner at the Nigerian Law School in Bwari, Abuja, he has also contributed his insights on legal education as a consultant to the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

Not so long ago, this firebrand former spokesperson the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organization was seen as the face of that campaign. In that role, his remarks about Tinubu’s quest for the Presidency in 2023 were acerbic, to say the least – as he questioned the former Lagos State Governor’s qualifications for the exalted office as well as his integrity, particularly highlighting allegations of Tinubu’s past crimes and misdemeanors. After the election, Bwala sought to de-legitimize the incoming administration, accusing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of manipulating the polls and describing the then-President-elect as ‘President-select’.

But during the transition to the Tinubu presidency, Bwala apparently experienced an epiphany. Like the biblical Saul, he seemingly had a road-to-Damascus experience and his eyes were opened to see that the messiah Nigerians had been waiting for was not Atiku, but … Tinubu.

And what about his previous criticisms of Tinubu? Bwala dismissed them with a wave of the hand, describing them as ‘irrelevant.’ “I criticized the administration because I was in the opposition,” he explains simply.
Those with long enough memories will recall that he actually began his odyssey in the present political dispensation as an ally of Tinubu, and made his usual acerbic comments about the Asiwaju’s political opponents, which was why eyebrows were raised back then when he subsequently pitched his tent with Atiku. At the time, he said his defection from the APC to the PDP was borne out of his conviction (as a Christian) that the Muslim-Muslim ticket represented by Tinubu’s pairing with Sen. Kashim Shettima represented an exclusionist agenda designed to keep a critical demographic group in Nigeria from the dividends of democracy.

Not only do Bwala’s recent statements in defence of Tinubu’s administration represent a complete 180-degree shift from his previous stance, then, but (in the view of some critics, including some in the Tinubu camp) they also reflect the overzealous of a new convert eager to make up for whatever ground he had lost in Tinubu’s inner circle during his romance with Atiku. Since his appointment, he has been unsparing of critics of the President and his party, the APC. In recent days, for instance, he has had lots to say about figures like the immediate past Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, whose defection from the ruling party to the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) is causing ripples in the political space. Bwala described the defection as ‘insignificant’ and that el-Rufai had aligned himself with ‘sore losers’ who would not be able to unseat the incumbent President. “We will … remind (el-Rufai) that (his move) is not an ideology, nor is it progressivism,” Bwala said. “It is simply an inordinate ambition destined to fail.”

On former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, Bwala has even predicted an imminent move to the APC on the part of the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election. “Do you know we are emptying the Labour Party?” he asked rhetorically in a recent interview, citing the defections of some of Obi’s henchmen during that campaign.

To be fair, every man has the right to change his mind at certain junctures in his life-journey. But watchers of Nigeria’s rough-house politics can also be forgiven for seeing Bwala’s journey as characteristic of the psychological complexities faced by many Nigerian politicians – especially when it has to do with their proximity, or otherwise, to the corridors of power. As we have seen, the aura of power is a potent force, and its appeal an enticing prospect that can drive even the most well-intentioned individuals to abandon their principles.

But this, of course, goes beyond Bwala as an individual. The ease with which politicians in these parts switch their allegiances, the fervour with which they defend their new principals, and the sudden amnesia that accompanies their new-found loyalties, all give credence to the saying that politics makes strange bedfellows. But what happens to the ideals and convictions that once drove them? Do they become mere casualties of the political game, to be sacrificed at the altar of expediency? What’s the true cost of this ruthless pursuit of power – especially to the populace? How can we trust those who so readily abandon their principles for political expediency? Are these the kind of leaders we, Nigerians truly desire (or deserve)? Or is it a façade that we should be pushing back against?

On the face of it, the comments of politicians, or their spokespersons – especially in the run-up to elections – shouldn’t be cause for concern. The truth is that at these times, partisans (even in the advanced democracies) will do everything possible to sell their side and de-market the opposition. Take last year’s election campaigns in the USA, for example. The Republican candidate, Donald Trump – in his cantankerous style – deployed everything in his arsenal, including highlighting personal deficiencies and perceived ailments, against his opponent (sitting President Joe Biden and his later replacement, Kamala Harris). Biden and Harris did not take matters lying low, either; they hit back at Trump in like manner. So, the tensions and antagonisms of electioneering are understandable. But things changed as soon as elections were decided; the well-being of the country and its people took precedence. Personal or partisan interests took a back seat, and good governance came to the fore. Collaborations and compromises took place, and even in situations where the philosophies of parties clashed, debates were mostly based on divergent views about the best way forward for the country – that is, about methods rather than objectives.

Not so in Nigeria. Here, there are no principles behind politics, other than personal gain. which brings to mind something a university don, Prof. O. B. Nwolise, used to say back in the day, that politics in these parts is only about amala and gbegiri. To also quote the eminent jurist, Hon. Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, JSC, Nigerian politicians are not afraid of the people or the law; they are only afraid of their fellow politicians.

As it stands, there are only two political parties in Nigeria: the haves and the have-nots. This is why an unseemly percentage of politicians in Nigeria see nothing wrong in making the rounds of parties in the country. even as we speak, they are already scheming for 2027 so soon after the current administration was sworn, all in a bid to position themselves for their share of amala and gbegiri.

But we simply cannot continue this way. Principled politics – as we’ve seen in the so-called ‘saner climes’ – happens to be the only vehicle for responsible governance. If we don’t get our politics right – by building its foundations on principle, on a pro-people ideology, and most importantly, on the rule of law and the demands of human decency – we will never get governance, and by extension development, right.

• Keem Abdul, publisher and writer, hails from Lagos. He can be reached via +2348038795377 or Akeemabdul2023@gmail.com