Kolade-Otitioju Criticizes Mehdi Hassan’s Approach
Veteran journalist Babajide Kolade-Otitoju criticized Danie Bwala’s viral interview with Mehdi Hasan as a “brutal assault” and “mental torture” for Nigerian viewers.
The experienced journalist stated this while discussing the downside of the interview on TVC News program “Issues With Jide”, hosted by Ibrahim Shitta.
It should be noted that Daniel Bwala’s interview on Al Jazeera’s Head to Head with Mehdi Hasan has sparked intense discussion throughout the country.
“Bwala entered a setup that had been planned for months after personally promoting the interview to his followers and colleagues.” Babajide said.
He added that Bwala was unable to promote the policies of the current administration because Mehdi Hasan, who is considered one of the most skilled debaters in broadcast journalism, took “complete control” of the discussion.
“Hasan unleashed a torrent of Bwala’s own prior remarks from his days as an ardent opponent of President Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC).” He noted.
Otitoju went on to say that Bwala’s prior accusations, most notably, a documented assertion that members of the President’s party had organized a “militia” amongst others are the main bone of contention. Bwala’s defense that these quotes were Hasan’s opinion faltered when Hasan reminded him that they were his own words and videos were shown to further confirm counter any opposing words that Bwala had to say.
Kolade-Otitoju stated that although Bwala is a supporter of the government, his choice to confront Hasan was naive and that he suffered because of his own inconsistency.
According to Jide, Bwala was not prepared for his digital footprint to be used against him on such a large scale.
He ended by stating that he didn’t like how the interview went, that Bwala wasn’t given a chance to speak, and that Mehdi Hassan had effectively derobed the administration by using his platform.
