1. He has little to no support in Zamfara State
Dauda Lawal is less than popular in Zamfara. Especially when compared to the support that his rival Matawalle enjoys. Most residents do not know him. What Dauda Lawal leveraged on to earn his victory in Zamfara state was the platform of the PDP. If you ask 20 residents in Zamfara, only 5 would say they know the name Dauda Lawal.
2. He has a huge baggage of corruption and is seen as a thief
Dauda Lawal is notorious in the corruption circle. His relationship with fugitive, Diezani Allison Madueke pours red oil on his garment. He is reported to have been the banker who laundered her money in Nigeria and of course kept a share of it for himself. Dauda Lawal was used to help the former Minister of Petroleum to purchase the Le Meridien Hotel in Port Harcourt.
He is alleged to have paid $25 million in cash for the purchase of this property. According to reports this $25 million is said to have been part of the $150 million slush funds earmarked for the 2015 elections.
Dauda Lawal was arrested by Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency for this. In fact, a first prosecution witness during the trial of the corruption case against Dauda told Justice Muslim Hassan of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, how he delivered 12 padlocked bags containing $70m to an Abuja-based banker on the instruction of the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
3. Zamfara Citizens are worried he is only in office to squander their scarce resources
In May 2023, Dauda Lawal declared in his Asset Declaration Form that he has over $5 billion in a First Bank account. No one, including the Code of Conduct Bureau has verified this claim. Dauda Lawal has no identifiable means or source to which he could have earned $5 billion throughout his lifetime. The fifth richest man in Nigeria is worth $5 billion, so why isn’t Dauda Lawal on the list? This is suspicious.
Many in the anti-corruption campaign circle believe that Dauda Lawal does not have this much in his account as claimed. But rather, he intends to acquire this much while in office. They have described it as PRE-EMPTIVE LOOTING. Hear what an anti-corruption crusader, Mallam Mohammed M. Lukman has to say:
“We all know how this thing works. A Government official would fill in their Asset Declaration Form, claiming to own billions in property and assets. Meanwhile they do not have all these. Unfortunately the Code of Conduct Bureau which has so many forms to verify does not verify any of these claims. So when these government officials leave office, they acquire billions and trillions in office and then claim that these assets were acquired before they assumed office.
“That is why it is worrisome to us in the anti-corruption crusade that a Governor who was just an Executive Director at the Bank before holding public office is declaring over $5 billion as held assets. That is preposterous. We are talking of over N4 trillion Naira. It is in the interest of accountability that he explains the nitty-gritty of how he came about this wealth.”
Zamfara residents and indigenes are also suspicious. They believe that Dauda Lawal’s intention is to use his current office to milk the resources of the State to earn what he claims to have. They are eager for him to get out of office so that he never achieves this sinister plan.
4. Matawalle has massive support in Maradun, Birnin-Magaji and Bukkuyum—The three Local Government Areas affected by the court order for re-run
If we are to go by the support base Matawalle has in Zamfara State, Dauda Lawal does not come close to a victory. But what is more than this support base? It is the massive love that Matawalle enjoys in Maradun, Birnin-Magaji and Bukkuyum, the three Local Government Areas where the court has ordered INEC to carry out a rerun. In these three local governments, elections had not been held previously or results from various polling units were not counted.
Already the residents there have said they are ready to turn out en-masse to cast their votes for Matawalle.
A group, Maradun for Matawalle Support Group (MMSG) led by Alhaji Muhammad Dan Goga stated that the people of the affected communities were overjoyed at the court judgment and looked forward to voting massively for Matawalle who they believed would emerge victorious.
“When we received news of the judgment, we were extremely happy and jubilant. Our people came out en masse to celebrate. If the elections held in our council areas, Bello Matawalle would have won. He is our candidate and would have gotten all our votes. Now that there would be a rerun, we would go out give him our full support. And we are hundred percent sure he will emerge victorious as the Governor of our state.”
5. He has done nothing but complained since he got into office
If you have been following news and developments from Zamfara lately, you would definitely agree with this. Asides complaining and distributing photos of memos to the media, Dauda Lawal has done next to nothing in Zamfara State. In fact, asides squandering the State’s resources on travel and a stupendous lifestyle nothing has been done with money he received for Zamfara State.
Residents will tell you that there are no new constructions, no new sites, no new contractors, no new plans, not even new demolitions. Just complaints and “bad belle”.
They are eager to vote him out!
6. Security will get worse under his watch
Flowing from the above, it has become clear that the embattled Zamfara Governor has no plans for the State. One of the major challenges that Zamfara State faces is insecurity. With no plans to empower the indigenes and residents, to create job opportunities and revive the frail economy of the State, Zamfara is likely heading down the drain if the state is not rescued. Where you have no jobs, poverty rising and a complaining Governor, insecurity is bound to rise.
Zamfara indigenous do not want that to happen, and they would be voting our Dauda Lawal to ensure it doesn’t!