The Presidency has criticized television host, Rufai Oseni, following a heated exchange between him and his colleague, Reuben Abati, during Thursday’s edition of Arise TV’s Morning Show.
DAILY POST reports that the clash erupted after Rufai referred to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Senator Sandy Onor, as “Gbewudani”.
Rufai was reacting to a trending video of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, in which he claimed that he would secure the FCT and Rivers State for President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the 2027 presidential election.
The journalist questioned why the minister, who remains a national leader of the PDP, would openly support an APC presidential candidate instead of the party’s flagbearer.
According to him, the PDP candidate must be a Gbewudani, which he explained to mean, “hold my shirt”, for keeping quiet while the leader of his party is campaigning for another candidate.
Displeased with the ‘Gbewudani’ comment, Abati cautioned Rufai against making remarks that would attract lawsuits.
“Rufai, be careful, you’ll bring lawsuits on this station that the station will never be able to pay.
“Only you have maliciously impugned the integrity of the PDP candidate. You have also created an innuendo to tarnish the image of Sarafadeen Alli. Be careful,” Abati said.
Rufai, however, responded by saying, “It’s only when I disagree with your views that you start shouting lawsuits.”
Reacting to the exchange, President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, slammed Rufai, stating that the TV host is a narcissistic OAP masquerading as a journalist.
In a post on his official X handle, Bwala said: “That’s what you get when you recruit a narcissistic OAP masquerading as a journalist.
“There is no day he does not defame people’s character. But when you say one thing about him, he will tweet 24 times in a day against you.”
Narcissist masquerading as journalist – Presidency attacks Rufai Oseni after clash with Abati