Former presidential aide, Reuben Abati, has advised President Bola Tinubu’s aide, Daniel Bwala, to take legal action against Al Jazeera over his allegation that his interview with Mehdi Hasan was doctored.
Bwala, during an interview with Nigerian media personality, Daddy Freeze, claimed that his interview with Al Jazeera was edited to push certain points and omit others.
However, speaking on Arise Television’s ‘The Morning Show’ on Wednesday, Abati blamed Bwala for the failure to adequately prepare for Hasan’s ‘ambush’.
Abati, who expressed displeasure over the style of journalism practised by Al Jazeera’s Mehdi Hasan, insisted there must be standards.
While advising Bwala to sue Al Jazeera for misrepresentation, Abati added that the presidential aide has learnt his lessons.
He said, “I’ve talked about what people call style journalism, which may well just be bad journalism. I talked about, you know, what will look like ambush journalism. He’s (Mehdi Hasan) not apologetic about that, but he’s lucky enough to find a platform that has offered him a job.
“So there is no such thing called style. There’s something also about, you know, good faith and about professionalism. We can argue about all of that because there were people who said, Oh, it’s called Head to Head. Even if it was called leg to leg, there is a certain standard, you know, that is required in terms of civility and, you know, style and professionalism and all of that.
“I’m not here to teach journalism. However, I also said last time that Daniel Bwala made himself available for that ambush and that he did not do his own work, he did not prepare well enough before putting himself up for that interview, and I said that I hope that you will have learned his lessons.
“Now let me now focus today on the lessons. Now one of the things we do, and I say this as a man who has managed so many interview processes at the highest level, either here in Nigeria or elsewhere in the world, if you know that the style of this person is to ambush you and the interview will be doctored, the role is to be prepared.
“What you do in that case is that you record the interview yourself, so that you will have your own evidence. They may not allow you to bring your own camera, but you can bring a small recorder, and then you record it. You have your own evidence. If Bwala had done that… Now, if you do that, now that he’s saying that he has been misrepresented, then you come and give us your own evidence, and you will say, this is not the interview.
“Then they went behind. They doctored your interview. They misrepresented you, and now you have to keep explaining yourself. Many Nigerians have gone with the narrative that you didn’t step up to the bill.
“However, is misrepresentation an offense? Yes, it is. If you are misrepresented, you can sue for a decision. You can sue for damages. So what is the next step for Daniel? Is he going to sue Al Jazeera and insist that he has been misrepresented?
“I think he should. Is he going to insist that the original should be published? I think he should too. Word for word, and accordingly, he should learn the necessary lessons. He shouldn’t be. I think he’s new to this territory, he will learn.”