Daniel Bwala’s appointment and more than a few eyebrows it raises

Dr Uche Diala

Many would acknowledge that I’ve been uncharacteristically quiet over the recent appointment of my brother and friend, Barrister Daniel Bwala, as Special Adviser on Public Communications and Media (now adjusted to Special Adviser on Policy Communication) to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Part of the reason for my restraint, apart from my resignation to the fact that the President has an inalienable right to appoint whoever he wants to appoint, is out of a sense loyalty and respect to my brother and friend, Daniel Bwala who I have no doubt fought alongside in the same trenches in the past.

However, as it becomes clear that Barrister Bwala was drafted in (at least in part, with the new adjustment) as a replacement for Ajuri Ngelale who left under still curious circumstances, I am led to ask, on a serious note; did we actually sacrifice Ajuri Ngelale for Daniel Bwala?

I can’t help but ponder over what sense it makes and what exact value Bwala adds that Ajuri couldn’t add?

Is it understanding journalistic (information and communication) tenets, command of English and elocution, loyalty, intelligence, understanding of government policies and prgrams and effectively selling them or in the credibility each of them brings to the table?

I must say here that I can safely call both gentlemen my friends (except any of them denies that), and I can not deny either of them, but I struggle to wrap my head around certain happenings and actions under the current administration.

If you would permit me to take us on a quick trip down recent memory lane, considering how short memoried many Nigerians are.

I was here when my brother, Barrister Bwala, no doubt after working hard with BAT during the APC Primaries, made a very curious volte face and abandoned the ship at a very crucial moment over what he called Muslim-Muslim ticket.

Even though I made the point then that any politically sagacious Nigerian ought to have known that if BAT, a Southern Muslim, eventually emerged as APC Presidential candidate, the running mate or VP candidate, would naturally be expected to be a Northern Muslim, for obvious political reason(s), if APC was to stand a chance of winning that election.

That was pretty much clear to those schooled in Nigerian politics, and I was pretty sure that Barrister Daniel Bwala, being one of such Nigerians, knew exactly that, which was why I found his decision to settle for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a Northern Muslim of the PDP, after resolutely pushing for BAT to become the APC Presidential candidate, more than curious. I still do today.

Yet, I respected his right to association, even with or without giving any reason(s), and I wished him well then in a post I made on the matter in 2022, which some people have excavated and are making reference to today.

On the other hand, I was also a first-hand witness to when and how Chief Ajuri Ngelale was drafted into the BAT campaign.

I was a witness to the verve and panache he brought to the campaign, especially in the area of filling the missing and often troublesome gaps then between the outgoing Buhari-led APC Administration and the potentially incoming Tinubu-led APC administration.

I can say for a fact that Ajuri’s entry helped to galvanise or at least allay the fears of many Buhari loyalists, aka Buharists over a possible schism between the two leaders.

His entry gave a much needed impression of continuity and unity, which helped in no small way to galvanise the votes of Buhari supporters nationwide, which was by no means inconsequential, no matter what some people might think and say today.

On a specific note, I was privy to the role Ajuri played in the Women Campaign Council co-led by Her Excellency Hajiya Aisha Buhari and now First Lady, Her Excellency Senator Oluremi Tinubu.

Having been drafted into the Women Campaign Council myself by my senior Comrade, Laureta Lauretta Onochie, Ajuri and I crossed paths severally as we transversed the geopolitical zones campaigning for Asiwaju with the Women Campaign Council.

The rest, as they say, became history with the victory of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his subsequent inauguration as President on May 29th, 2023.

Ajuri’s subsequent elevation as Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, therefore, didn’t come to many as a surprise. It was clearly a case of a round peg in a round hole.

Indeed it was one of the few appointments made by the current administration that was seen and celebrated by the progressives army as truly fitting and representative of them and in line with expectations of due recognition and appreciation of loyalty, experience, commitment, belief and harwork.

As it is often said, not everyone will be given an appointment but it surely is encouraging and productive when one sees people who put their money where their mouth is, and who believed in a cause till the end like one did, get drafted to help push the agenda.

Otherwise, how can one in good conscience and, in all seriousness, effectively and efficiently push a cause that one either did not believe in or abandoned halfway?

I have read many people reference some of the many unsavoury things that my brother Daniel Bwala said about both the APC, APC supporters and the President. I won’t dwell on those. That will be left for Bwala to come to terms with and to rationalize or defend, if he so wishes.

As I wish him well in his new task, I can not help but point out the uncomfortable optics of this particular appointment, especially for a President who was touted as an astute progressive, and a leader par excellence.

Unfortunately, Daniel Bwala’s case, as prominent as it is, is not an outlier. Indeed, Bwala’s appointment and the discourse around it overshadowed three other consequential or key appointments made on the same day by the President, which went to one particular tribe.

That might be one coincidence too many, but I wish the President could pay a little more attention to such. The fact that only a handful of people are bold enough to point out such things publicly should give him no comfort because many grumble privately, even if they can’t summon the courage and sincerity publicly.

I only felt obligated to weigh in on this to further highlight some points of discomfort of many well meaning, sincere and objective progressives and supporters of the President.

All said and done, I accept the decision of the President and I wish him well.

I end this piece with the same line from “The Gambler” Song by Kenny Rogers which I also used to end my 2022 piece: “You never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table
There’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealin’s done”.

We shall count our successes and failures (God forbid) when the dealin’s is done.

May PBAT succeed.
God Bless Nigeria.

©️ Uche Diala

APC Member, Progressive and Supporter of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

druchediala@gmail.com
19th November 2024