Presidential aide Daniel Bwala has claimed that Al Jazeera privately apologised to him over his controversial interview with journalist Mehdi Hasan but declined to issue the apology publicly, prompting him to file a defamation lawsuit in England.
Bwala made the disclosure during an interview on Morayo Afolabi-Brown’s programme, published on YouTube on Wednesday, several months after his appearance on Al Jazeera’s Head to Head programme in March 2026.
During the interview, Hasan questioned Bwala about previous remarks he made against President Bola Tinubu while supporting former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Speaking on the aftermath of the interview, Bwala alleged that the broadcaster acknowledged shortcomings in its handling of the programme but refused to publish an apology.
According to him, “They apologised to me privately. I said they should put it on social media. They said they will not put it on social media, it will affect their credibility, because it’s not just them, but their other programmers at the Al Jazeera network too.
Bwala explained that the apology centred on the network’s failure to disclose beforehand that part of the interview would focus on questioning his credibility over his previous criticism of Tinubu.
He said Al Jazeera admitted that, under its own ethical standards, it should have informed him that the subject would be discussed during the interview.
Bwala also revealed that he sought the opinion of media analysts, including British broadcaster Piers Morgan, whom he contacted through an intermediary.
According to him, Morgan agreed that the interview had not been handled appropriately.
The presidential aide further criticised Al Jazeera for airing an edited version of the interview rather than broadcasting it in full.
He claimed the original recording lasted about one hour and 30 minutes but only 49 minutes were eventually aired.
Bwala alleged that sections where he challenged Hasan’s assertions and received applause from the audience were removed, while moments favourable to the interviewer were retained.
He also accused Hasan of repeatedly playing old video clips of his previous statements without giving viewers sufficient context or allowing him to adequately respond.
According to Bwala, the programme omitted his opening remarks in which he had indicated he would reject questions outside the agreed scope of the interview.
He argued that excluding those comments created a misleading impression of his responses during the discussion.
Bwala said he decided to pursue legal action after Al Jazeera declined his request to make its apology public.
When they apologised, I said no, put it on social media. They refused. So I instructed my lawyers in England to go to court. The case is currently in court,” he said.
Explaining his decision to file the lawsuit, Bwala said his legal advisers in England considered the broadcaster’s actions to amount to defamation.
“Because my advisers in England said it’s defamation of character,” he added.
