By Joshua Nwachukwu

By now, you may well be among the nearly one million viewers (as of the last count) who have watched Daniel Bwala’s Head to Head interview with Mehdi Hasan.

I watched the video laughing in disbelief; he was thoroughly outmatched. It was difficult to reconcile the performance on display with the Daniel Bwala many Nigerians are used to seeing on local television, where his responses to questions often resemble a kind of mixed-martial-arts response style.

One cannot help but wonder whether Daniel read Hasan’s book, How to Win Every Argument.

Interestingly, on 17 July 2024, Bwala himself tweeted: “Only Mehdi Hasan on the planet that I find as ruthless in demolishing Piers Morgan’s manipulating journalism. That guy is a terrific debater, sweat-less flow of thoughts, deadly fact-checker, master of rhymes, deep knowledge of the issues.”

Today, one could repost that same tweet, simply replacing Piers Morgan’s name with Daniel Bwala’s, and it would give a fair picture of what transpired on February 10, at Conway Hall, London.

To his credit, Bwala remained calm and composed, much like his biblical namesake Daniel when he was thrown into the lion’s den. But unlike the Daniel who emerged untouched and unscarred, Bwala did not leave the arena unbruised. He was thoroughly outmatched. Little wonder the saying goes: those who come to equity must come with clean hands. Bwala’s hands, it would seem, are not entirely clean, and Mehdi Hasan ensured the world saw the stains.

Many have already written lengthy treatises about Bwala. I have no intention of adding another. He is a 51-year-old man, and it is often said that old habits die hard; after all, you cannot easily teach an old man to begin writing with his left hand.

My focus today is the young professional, like myself, who aspires to political office. Because we are not yet in power or, more colloquially, because we are not yet partaking of the national cake, we often have the courage and objectivity to call out people like Bwala. But as it is often said, sometimes a man’s virtue is the result of his lack of opportunity to do otherwise; give him the opportunity and let’s see what happens.

The real question, is: how do we participate in politics without becoming like Daniel Bwala and his likes? Politics may be dirty, but that does not mean we must become pigs. If a young person is interested in politics and has not chewed over this, they may soon end up on the path they once criticised.

And this is not a conversation to be postponed until when we “get there,” nor does it apply only in political settings. The need for clarity of purpose and a moral compass applies to our daily lives.

It is in the small decisions that we prepare ourselves for the larger tests that will inevitably come. As C. S. Lewis once wrote, “No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good.”

To remind myself of this, I have composed a small litany of prayers, wishes, and principles that might guide anyone who desires public service without becoming a public embarrassment:

May I never be so poor that I must kowtow to stomach infrastructure or become a political prostitute.

May I never be so obsessed with political power that I see politics not as a means of service and the common good, but merely as a means of survival.

May I never develop such tunnel vision that I see politics as my only path to success and fulfilment.

May I never forget that every action leaves digital footprints in the cloud, and that one day I may be called to account for them, without my permission.

May I never forget that patriotism is to the country, not to a president or a political party.

May I have the fortitude to stand for the truth, even if I must stand alone.

May I have the courage to resist the fear of missing out.

May I never lose my sense of shame, such that I bring disgrace upon myself, my family, my friends, and my country.

May I never become so desperate for power and relevance that, without good cause, I begin to say that black is white and oil is water.

May I never oppose something simply because a leader supports it, nor support something merely because he supports it.

May I never abandon my principles or turn against what I once believed simply to fit a new political convenience.

May I remain humble enough to acknowledge my fallibility, knowing I cannot be right all the time or about everything.

May I remember that there is life outside politics, both on earth and beyond it.

May I never hide behind the excuse of “I’m just doing my job” while acting as a hired gun.

May I never waste my education; may it help me think critically and independently.

May I learn to say no, and have the courage to walk away when necessary.

May I never become a hypocrite with different faces for different places.

May I never be foolish enough to repeat mistakes that history has already exposed.

It is easy to laugh at Daniel Bwala today. But the more uncomfortable question is whether, given the same incentives, the same proximity to power, and the same pressures, will we act differently?

Character is not forged in the moment of power; it is revealed there. If we do not prepare our conscience long before power arrives, we may find ourselves saying and defending things we once considered absurd. And when that day comes, the world will not remember our excuses, only our words. If we do not decide who we are before politics calls, politics will decide it for us and we will end up like Daniel Bwala and his likes.

Nwachukwu is a Lagos-based legal practitioner.