Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communication and Media, Daniel Bwala, has firmly denied ever referring to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a drug lord, describing the claim as a distortion fueled by social media and amplified by sections of the mainstream press.
Speaking during an interview on News Central, Bwala insisted the allegation is entirely false and challenged anyone to provide proof.
“I have never in my life addressed Bola Tinubu as a drug lord. In fact, I have never believed in it,” he said.
“If you have it here, we can shut the interview and you produce it.”
He also responded to another viral statement attributed to him, claiming he once said even 30 years in office would not make a difference under Tinubu. Bwala traced the comment to a December 25, 2023 appearance on Channels Television, explaining that his remarks were misrepresented.
“I said, where a policy is fundamentally flawed, that 30 years will not correct it,” he clarified, stressing that he was speaking about policy effectiveness, not the president’s leadership.
Bwala said the original video of the interview still exists and offered to present it to counter the narrative.
He used the controversy to highlight what he described as a troubling trend in Nigerian media, where unverified social media content is sometimes treated as fact.
“Now, when you mentioned it was reported in the paper, that is the second question that the Nigerian media should begin to look at, how social media now set the tone and agenda for mainstream media. And this is where we have the problem in Nigeria today.
“Believe me, I’m telling you, I see some television houses, not all of them, where they report stories on social media that were unverified, as though it is a verified information and people run to town with it.”
He emphasized that proper journalism requires verifying claims at their source, likening it to academic research standards.
“If, for example, assuming you’re running a newspaper… for the purposes of verifying your information, which is part of the ethics, we need to say, let me go to the source.
“It’s important you go to the source of the book that was referenced… so that when you say something, it will be cast in stone.”
While acknowledging the presence of credible professionals in the field, Bwala noted that a small group driven by sensationalism and online engagement is overshadowing responsible journalism.
“But I can understand that journalism now has taken a different dimension… very good journalists… are being overshadowed by the conduct of very few minority who have mastered the nuances of social media that feeds off of vitriol and hate for the monetisation of revenue,” he said.
