Daniel Bwala has denied ever describing Bola Tinubu as a “drug lord,” calling the claim a distortion amplified by social media and mainstream newspapers without verification.
Speaking in an interview with News Central on Monday, Bwala challenged journalists to produce any video evidence supporting the alleged statement. “I have never in my life addressed Bola Tinubu as a drug lord. In fact, I have never believed in it,” he said.
Bwala also clarified a separate viral claim that he had suggested giving Tinubu 30 years in office would change nothing. He traced the misquotation to a December 25, 2023 interview with Channels Television, in which he was critiquing government policy, not the president’s tenure. He said his actual words were: “Where a policy is fundamentally flawed, 30 years will not correct it.”
The adviser criticised a growing tendency among Nigerian media outlets to report unverified social media content as fact. “Some television houses… report stories on social media that were unverified, as though it is verified information, and people run to town with it,” he said.
Bwala urged journalists to adopt rigorous verification practices, comparing it to academic research standards where citing sources without consulting original materials is insufficient. He acknowledged that responsible journalists are increasingly overshadowed by a minority leveraging social media outrage for monetisation.
Having previously served as spokesman for Atiku Abubakar’s campaign before joining Tinubu’s administration, Bwala reaffirmed that he explicitly rejected the “drug lord” characterisation during that period.
Despite his denials, scepticism has persisted online, with social media users circulating older video clips accusing him of inconsistency after switching allegiances.
