Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Media and Policy Communications, has described the conditions of many Nigerian graduates working in United Kingdom care homes as “modern-day slavery,” claiming they are in many cases worse off than Nigerians earning N60,000 per month at home, while also revealing that he has filed a defamation suit against Al Jazeera in an English court over his controversial interview with Mehdi Hasan, after the network privately apologised but refused to make the apology public because “it would affect their credibility.”
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Bwala, who stated that he is himself a resident of the United Kingdom, made both sets of comments during an interview on The Morayo Show with host Morayo Afolabi-Brown.
Bwala disclosed that Al Jazeera had tendered a private apology over his appearance on Head to Head, hosted by Mehdi Hasan, in March 2026, during which Hasan confronted him with old quotes, video clips, and statements from his time as spokesperson for Atiku Abubakar’s presidential campaign.
During the interview, Hasan repeatedly referenced Bwala’s past criticisms of President Tinubu, prompting the presidential aide to deny several of the statements. Clips from the interview subsequently went viral on social media, generating widespread reactions.
“They apologised to me privately. I said they should put it on social media. They said they would not because it would affect their credibility, because it’s not just them, but their mother programmes at the Al Jazeera Network,” Bwala disclosed.
According to Bwala, Al Jazeera acknowledged that under its own ethical guidelines, it should have disclosed in advance that his past criticisms of Tinubu and his decision to later support the president would be scrutinised during the interview.
“The element of the apology was that they should have told me they were going to interrogate my credibility by asking why I now support someone I previously criticised. By their ethics, they admitted they ought to have told me, and they were sorry they did not,” Bwala stated.
Bwala said he sought independent confirmation that Al Jazeera’s conduct was improper: “I called a number of media analysts, including Piers Morgan, whom I contacted through a third party, and confirmed that what they did was wrong.”
Bwala accused Hasan of editing the pre-recorded interview in a manner that misrepresented his responses. He claimed that the opening portion of the interview, in which he addressed his past criticisms of Tinubu directly, was removed from the final broadcast.
“He took away the opening remark where I told him that I had indeed made those comments against Asiwaju and even said worse things, but that was not what I was invited to discuss. I told him that if he continued on that line of questioning, I would deny them. He removed that part,” Bwala stated.
He argued that the editing created the false impression that he was simply denying his previous statements without context or explanation, when in reality he had acknowledged making the statements but had warned the host that he would not engage further on questions outside the agreed scope of the interview.
Bwala stated that he had instructed lawyers in England to institute legal proceedings against the broadcaster.
“The case is currently in court. We’re waiting for the verdict because my advisers in England said it is a case of defamation of character,” Bwala stated.
The decision to file in an English court is significant. England has historically been regarded as a favourable jurisdiction for defamation claims because of its claimant-friendly libel laws, although reforms introduced by the Defamation Act 2013 raised the threshold for bringing such claims by requiring claimants to demonstrate that the publication caused or was likely to cause “serious harm” to their reputation.
If Bwala’s account of Al Jazeera’s private apology is accurate, the admission that the network’s own ethical guidelines required it to disclose the scope of the interview in advance could become a significant piece of evidence in the defamation proceedings, potentially demonstrating that the broadcaster acted outside its own standards of journalistic practice.
On the separate issue of Nigerian migration to the UK, Bwala delivered a direct message to Nigerians at home.
“Some of you in Nigeria who think you are suffering are better off than your colleagues that Japa’d five years ago,” Bwala stated.
He said he spoke from personal knowledge as a UK resident who witnesses the realities faced by Nigerian migrants.
“I am a resident of the United Kingdom. A Nigerian that finished with first class or second class and later obtained another degree, do you know where the majority of them are working? Care homes,” Bwala stated.
“As far as I am concerned, it is modern-day slavery,” the presidential aide declared.
Bwala argued that the jobs many Nigerian migrants take in the UK are beneath their qualifications.
“They call them ‘mereno’ where I come from. Like lesser than a house girl. Because there are certain things a house girl cannot do. The type of jobs they get there is less than that of a house girl as a master’s holder in an economy that is supposed to place them where they ought to get the same money,” Bwala stated.
Bwala broke down the financial reality.
“When they get there, they do a job where they get an average of £2,600 or £2,800 in a month. £2,450 goes off to payment for power, internet, TV and rent. Rent is about £800 even if you are living in the outskirts of London,” Bwala stated.
“At the end of the day, what you are left with is not much, so you are forced to do two, three jobs. That is why recently you hear people die by the roadside,” he added, referencing reports of Nigerian migrants collapsing or dying from exhaustion attributed to working multiple shifts.
Bwala compared the situation of UK-based Nigerian care workers with Nigerians earning N60,000 per month at home.
“I will compare that person with a Nigerian here earning N60,000. That person may have relatives or friends who can lend or support them. Also, what we pay for power and some social services here is almost nothing compared to what people pay there,” Bwala stated.
“That N60,000 earner, at least, the bank can loan you money or somebody can support you,” he added.
He acknowledged that Nigerians abroad enjoy better infrastructure and access to healthcare but argued that many still struggle to acquire assets.
“Your problem here may be that you don’t have enough money to build a house or buy a car. That other person abroad is not even thinking about buying a car. He may not get one in the next 20 years. Although they have better infrastructure and access to healthcare, they are not necessarily better off financially,” Bwala stated.
Bwala also noted that Nigerians in the United States generally remit more money home than those in the UK, attributing this to the higher cost of living in Britain relative to earnings.
Bwala defended the Tinubu administration’s social intervention programmes.
“President Bola Tinubu introduced 50 per cent subsidy on dialysis in federal hospitals, and caesarean section has been made free in public hospitals,” Bwala stated.
He added that the government plans to extend healthcare support to more medical services and prescription drugs as resources become available.
Bwala’s comments touch on two of the most charged public debates in contemporary Nigeria.
The first is whether the “japa” phenomenon, the mass emigration of Nigerians, delivers the better life that many expect. Bwala’s position, that many who left are worse off, is contested by those who argue that even difficult early years abroad eventually lead to financial stability, professional advancement, and a quality of life unavailable in Nigeria.
The second is Bwala’s own credibility, which the Al Jazeera interview brought into sharp public focus. His admission that he told Mehdi Hasan he had “indeed made those comments against Asiwaju and even said worse things” before warning that he would deny further questions on the topic provides a new layer of context to the viral clips that showed him repeatedly saying “I never said that” to Hasan’s questions. Whether the English court finds that Al Jazeera’s editing and presentation of the interview amounts to defamation will depend on whether the broadcast, taken as a whole, conveyed a false and seriously harmful impression that Bwala was dishonestly denying statements he had previously made, or whether it accurately captured a public figure’s contradictory positions on a matter of legitimate public interest.
Both the defamation case and the “japa” debate await further developments: the English court’s verdict on the Al Jazeera claim, and the continued lived experiences of millions of Nigerians both at home and abroad who will ultimately determine which side of the argument reality supports.
The interview was conducted on The Morayo Show. Daniel Bwala is the Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Media and Policy Communications.
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