Atiku’s camp accuses Tinubu spokesman Daniel Bwala of political opportunism

The media office of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has strongly criticised presidential spokesperson Daniel Bwala, accusing him of political opportunism and attempting to manipulate public narratives.

In a statement released on Saturday, Atiku’s media team described Bwala’s recent political conduct as “opportunistic merchandising of allegiance,” alleging that he had previously approached them with a proposal to fabricate a narrative against the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The statement, signed by Atiku’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, claimed that Bwala had asked the team to issue a press statement alleging that President Tinubu and his associates were threatening his life.

“We remain in possession of his message requesting that the Atiku Media Team issue a press statement claiming that President Tinubu and his associates were threatening his life,” Shaibu said.

According to him, the media team rejected the request outright, describing it as a “frivolous and opportunistic attempt at political theatre.”

Shaibu said the decision to turn down the request was based on what he described as the team’s commitment to responsible communication and refusal to engage in what he termed “manufactured propaganda.”

The statement comes amid reactions to a widely circulated interview involving Bwala and prominent Mehdi Hasan of Al Jazeera.

Shaibu argued that the interview exposed what he described as the dangers of dismissing serious national concerns as mere political arguments. He accused Bwala of attempting to defend the government’s record on insecurity while ignoring the scale of the crisis affecting Nigerians.

He further criticised the presidential spokesman for allegedly trivialising the loss of lives across the country over the past two years, describing such remarks as insensitive.

“The interviewer methodically dismantled the talking points he came armed with and exposed the contradictions between his past statements and his present posture,” Shaibu said.

“What Nigerians witnessed was the uncomfortable spectacle of a spokesperson struggling to reconcile shifting loyalties with inconvenient facts.”

The statement adds another layer to the growing political tension between opposition figures and the current administration, particularly as debates over governance, security challenges and economic hardship continue to dominate Nigeria’s political landscape.