A former presidential candidate and economist, Kingsley Moghalu, has strongly criticised a recent international television interview by presidential aide Daniel Bwala, describing the appearance as damaging to Nigeria’s global image.
Reacting to the interview conducted by journalist Mehdi Hasan on Head to Head aired on Al Jazeera, Moghalu said the exchange portrayed the country in a negative light before a global audience.
“The Daniel Bwala interview with Mehdi Hassan on Al Jazeera’s Head to Head program was a disaster of gargantuan proportions for Nigeria as a country, for President Tinubu’s administration, and for Bwala himself,” Moghalu wrote on his X account.
According to him, the interview did not only affect the reputation of the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, but also projected a troubling image of Nigeria’s political culture to viewers worldwide.
“The interview made a spectacle of Nigeria, not just because of the reach of the program globally, but also the format in which there was a global audience in the room itself,” he said.
Moghalu questioned how the audience present at the recording would perceive Nigeria after what he described as a “fact-based shredding” of the country’s leadership and governance performance.
“What will each of those people think about Nigeria after such a fact-based shredding of the country’s leadership and its performance?” he asked.
The former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria argued that the episode reflected deeper problems within Nigeria’s political system, which he said is driven more by opportunism than by ideology or policy.
“It was a sad commentary on Nigeria’s political culture in which there are no beliefs, no policies, no ideology, just crass opportunism and the battle for political power. Turn-coatism is ‘it’,” he said.
Moghalu also criticised what he described as the government’s standard for selecting individuals to represent the administration on international platforms.
“The fact that Bwala, given his record, is sent out to speak for the President of Nigeria on the international stage says much about the standards by which government in Nigeria recruits people for specific roles,” he said.
“In that universe ‘loyalty’, fleeting though it may be, is all that counts. Competence doesn’t. Mediocrity reigns.”
He further questioned the practice of appointing former critics of an administration as spokespersons after they defect politically.
“Why appoint former attack dogs of the political opposition as spokespersons and ambassadors for the administration simply because they have ‘defected’?” Moghalu asked.
According to him, individuals who previously launched strong personal attacks against the president may struggle to maintain credibility when later representing the same administration.
“The baggage such individuals carry… renders such persons lacking in credibility in representational roles,” he said, adding that Bwala was left “trying to eat his words with bare-faced lies.”
Moghalu maintained that there are individuals who could more credibly represent the Nigerian government internationally, even amid criticism of its performance.
“I think there are people who could be far more credible spokesmen and women for Nigeria’s government, even with all its underperformance in governance,” he said.
He also revealed that he received calls from friends across several countries following the interview, many expressing shock over how Nigeria was portrayed.
“It was a sad day for our country. I’ve received several calls from friends from various countries around the world. All were in shock and felt sorry for our country to be put in such a spot,” he wrote.
Despite the criticism, Moghalu said Nigeria’s citizens remain widely respected globally for their talent and achievements.
“The citizens of Nigeria are brilliant, hardworking and respected all over the world, breaking barriers and achieving feats in various spheres,” he said.
However, he added that the nation’s political leadership continues to undermine that reputation.
“The government and incompetent governance of Nigeria by its politicians remains a sorry tale.”
