Daniel Bwala Denies Calling Tinubu ‘Illegitimate President’, Blames Aisha Yesufu

Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, has again denied ever describing the president as illegitimate, challenging anyone with evidence of such a statement to produce it.

Bwala made the clarification during an interview on the KAA TRUTHS podcast, amid renewed attention to comments he allegedly made about Tinubu before joining the administration.

The presidential aide said activist and Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) member Aisha Yesufu was the person who described Tinubu as an illegitimate president. He argued that her continued position, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling on the 2023 presidential election, reflected a misunderstanding of the law.

Bwala said that once an election dispute has been taken to the highest court and the court upholds the result, its decision must be respected, regardless of disagreements over the conduct of the election.

“Nobody in Nigeria, even the opposition, including Kenneth Okonkwo, called the President illegitimate, it is only Aisha and that’s because she is ignorant and doesn’t know what the law is,” Bwala said.

He argued that even where an election is considered flawed, a final judicial ruling upholding its validity changes the legal position.

“Even if a person won an election that is flawed, and that election is litigated to the highest court of the land whose decision is final in all authorities and they said that the election was valid, from that moment you should back away,” he said.

Bwala has faced questions over his past political comments since becoming a member of Tinubu’s administration, with critics pointing to statements he allegedly made while he was in opposition.

Asked directly whether he had ever called Tinubu illegitimate, Bwala maintained that he had not and challenged his critics to provide evidence.

“If you have it pull it out,” he said, insisting that he had never called the President illegitimate.