A PREMISE
Not many, who today are attacking the personality of lawyer, public affairs analyst and member, Lincoln Inn, London, Dr. Daniel Bwala knew what role he played long before President Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared to run for the 2023 presidential race. Quite a modicum of Pitobi’s barbarian e-rodents who today cast aspersions, rain invectives on his person are ignorant of how much energy Dr. Bwala dissipated prior and during the events leading to the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primaries held at the popular Eagle’s Square, Abuja on June 6, 2022.
Today, majority of the APC folks attacking the personality Dr. Bwala are doing that for either of two things, first, it stems out of envy as a corollary of the audience he enjoys from Mr. President when, indeed, many of them who covet such opportunity have not gotten any. Secondly, many of them are just natural cynics who, like the typical misanthropic souls, will continue in their attack of their adversaries.
THE GENESIS
When many of those who were mentees and/or beneficiaries of the then Asíwájú Bólá Ahmed Tinubu, the Jagaban Borgu were against his candidacy, Dr. Bwala was everywhere rooting for him. When folks from the South West gathered in their coven to work against one of their own, Dr. Bwala was all over the place, shouting Tinubu’s name. And when the ‘cabal’ back then within The Presidency anointed the then Senate President, Sen. Ahmed Lawan to succeed former President Muhammadu Buhari, and Bwala was invited to join the plot, Dr. Bwala stood aloof and went against the ‘Northern’ interest. Just like a handful of Northern Progressives insisted power must return to the South, Bwala stood obstinately with that school of thought, and went ahead to advocate vigorously for a Tinubu presidency.
If not for mischief, a simple Google search on Dr. Bwala’s advocacy for then Asíwájú from 2021 through weeks after his victory at the primaries, Lawyer and Public Affairs Analyst, Bwala stood through thick and thing with a man treated like an anathema by his own beneficiaries and mentees. Like the rock of Gibraltar, he stood for the Jagaban pro bono. Even when his kinsmen were calling him names, he stood by his belief and conviction in Tinubu’s candidacy.
The undernamed recalls, while acting as the National Coordinator of a support group founded by Prince Adé Omóle, the Director of Diaspora Directorate, defunct APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC); Dr. Bwala was invited as one of the panelists on January 2, 2022, to discuss why a Tinubu presidency would be the best to succeed then President Muhammadu Buhari. Man gave succinct and detailed analysis of why a Tinubu presidency would offer Nigeria a new lease of life more than any of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Rotimi Amaechi or any party’s candidate ticket. It is therefore flabbergasting or rather discombobulating when people today think Bwala’s recent support for President Tinubu is to seek undue favour having left the party for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to campaign for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
THE M/M TICKET: CORRECTING THE DISINFORMATION
In this part of the world, our hypocrisy stinks with an odious and odoriferous exudation. Nigerians, in particular, are largely influenced by their ethnic and religious beliefs. But they are quick to point accusing fingers to fellow countrymen and women found with same sentiment. Dr. Daniel Bwala is from the minority Christian North. And it is only natural for anyone in his shoes to be so disappointed, so to speak when their expectations are not met. Facts are subject to change when new facts emerge. Today, mischiefmakers, particularly Pitobi’s headless e-mob alongside some dissatisfied APC folks have continued to lampoon and castigate the personality of Dr. Bwala over his reason adduced for pitching tent with an Atiku Abubakar after then presidential flagbearer, Asíwájú Tinubu picked a Muslim as his running mate. As if they were any way more sanctimonious than their adversary, these souls with low critical thinking cannot separate emotions from realities.
Just like anybody in his shoes could not have done differently, President Tinubu today has allayed the fears from the Christian community of possible ‘Islamisation’ of the polity, a notion held ab initio over the Muslim/Muslim ticket by the Chrisitian hub. Dr. Bwala, having been convinced that the fear that pushed him to the other side of the divide, the apprehension about his faith and that of his other brethren in the Christiandom is not endangered or in anyway under jeopardy, it is only commendable that he shows that spirit of sportsmanship to a man he has always believed in his political school of thought.
BWALA AS A SPY: THE FALLACY OF HASTY CONCLUSION
A cross-section of the political divide, including many among the All Progressives Congress (APC) have hitherto held the notion that Dr. Bwala was sent to the Atiku camp as a spy and a snitch to work for President Tinubu. The undernamed can say without equivocation and with all sense of responsibility that such notion is the apogee of mendacity. Nothing could be farther from the truth. As one who enjoys a very close relationship (till date) with Dr. Bwala, and one who was in the know of everything around Bwala, prior, during and after the electioneering, the undernamed can authoritatively say there’s no iota of truth in such story. It was (and still is) a tale by moonlight based on conjectures. Bwala was NOT sent to the PDP to spy for Asíwájú Bólá Ahmed Tinubu. Bwala left for fear of his faith. And now that his political father-figure, President Tinubu has proved the naysayers and cynics wrong, it was only normal that came back where he left off. Today, he has challenged those who accused him of attacking the personality of President Tinubu during electioneering, but no one has been able to prove that till date.
THE REVELATION
While many, especially those from the opposition, see Dr. Bwala’s recent support for President Tinubu as a decoy for ‘presidential patronage’, it is fundamentally germane to place it on record that, whether or not President Tinubu offers Dr. Bwala a position in his government, the egghead legal pundit is not dependent on political patronage for survival. This is because he is a man with more than 3 or 4 addresses. And when a man is blessed with such fortunes, he does not have to wait for political appointment to sustain his livelihood. Bwala has a multimillion Naira law firm in Nigeria that is quite successful. That is aside his other business interests, including in his base in London. For him, the time for election was over. It is time for real governance, and every Nigerian has a role to play in making Nigeria better. If the nation calls on him to contribute his quota, he will not hesitate because building a nation where peace, love, and justice reigns is not a task of political leanings. It is a clarion call that must be obeyed!