Barely a fortnight after Daniel Bwala, a former spokesperson of the People’s Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation (PDP-PCO), met with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the pair have, again, met in Paris, France, where the President, is currently staying on a ‘private visit’.
Bwala, who personally announced the development on Monday, through his X platform, on Monday, wrote: “It was a pleasure to meet with the father of the nation @officialABAT President Bola Tinubu in Paris today. He continues to share his thoughts and demonstrate his passion to lead Nigeria out of the woods.”
A vocal critic, who was at the Presidential Villa, Abuja a fortnight ago to confer with Tinubu and pledge his support for his government, during an appearance as a guest of Sunday Politics, a public affairs programme on Channels Television, said the President was toeing exactly the path of the great American President in rallying the country to achieve greatness.
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Bwala, currently facing immense backlash from a groundswell of Nigerigerian public after the visit, coming few weeks after he had claimed that 30 years of Tinubu’s government would not change anything positively in Nigeria, told his host during the programme that some of his views had changed after meeting with the President, who took time to explain most of his policies and decisions since taking over the reins of power on May 29, 2023.
Explaining further on the turn of events, he said: “Look at it this way. Elections are over and adjudications on the elections are over. What, as a country we’re confronted by now is governance. The President on the first day of the year, called on everybody, including members of the opposition to come together.
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“That’s why I came with this book – Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategy for Tough Times. This is what I think President Bola Tinubu is trying to do – the leadership of Abraham Lincoln, who at the time, led the United States through the civil war. Now these were the problems he was confronted with at the time. You had the insurgents of what the called the Federalists or the Confederalists, you had the issue of slavery, you had the issue against the challenge of the union, then you had the issue of the economy and the issue of the expansion of the Federal Government.
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“These were the problems Abraham Lincoln was confronted by. To be able to steer that, he needed to generated and steer national consensus. That means you’re rising above the waters and rising above the level of partisanship, you’re looking at from the perspective that both government and private sector inclusive of members of other political parties to come together so that we can join our hands and lead the country.
“The question I think people should rather ask is – does it mean when you say you’re going to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, you’re not going to critique policies that you disagree with? I think that is the question people should ask. He’s the President of the Republic, he’s the President of the opposition. He’s the President of the media.”
Arguing that Nigerian governors including those from the opposition, had also supported Tinubu on many fronts without being vilified, he said Atiku was quite aware of his movements in the direction he had chosen, because he informed the former Vice President before and after the meeting.
His words: “It’s absolute nonsense for somebody to say because I said I will support President Bola Tinubu therefore I betrayed Atiku. I informed Atiku Abubakar I was going to see the President. After I had seeing the President, I informed him (Atiku) that I had just seen the President and he replied me that, ‘Thanks Daniel for notifying me’.”
In July 2022, Bwala, then an APC member, dumped the ruling party when Tinubu announced his running mate as ex-Borno governor, Kashim Shettima. The lawyer and politician faulted Tinubu for his choice of a Muslim as himself as a running mate and quickly joined the campaign train of Atiku, a Muslim and ex-Vice President, who chose a Christian as running mate in the person of ex-Delta governor, Ifeanyi Okowa.
Bwala was one of the very vocal and unsparing spokespersons of Atiku during the campaign that culminated into the last poll.
The lawyer said his job as Atiku’s spokesman during the last campaign was that of a salesman with the sole responsibility of selling a product and demarketing competitors. Bwala, who made a sharp U-turn, said he never said Tinubu wasn’t fit to be Nigeria’s President, adding that now that Atiku did not win, Tinubu is okay for the job.
Bwala was taciturn in his response when asked whether he was still a PDP member or he has now returned to the APC.