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As Zamfara awaits new dawn with Dauda Lawal

By Abdulkadir Mohammed Tsafe
19 September 2018   |   3:45 am
On Sunday, September 15, the philanthropist, community leader, technocrat and ex-banker, Dr. Dauda Lawal, (Gamjin Gusau) finally heeded...

Dauda Lawal. PHOTO: FLICKR

On Sunday, September 15, the philanthropist, community leader, technocrat and ex-banker, Dr. Dauda Lawal, (Gamjin Gusau) finally heeded his people’s call to aspire for the highest office in Zamfara State; the governorship position on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

His well-attended declaration rally in Gusau, the state capital came after years of pleas from both the old and the young aware of the aspirant’s track record in public and private life and his ability to offer quality service and leadership to the state.

Born in Gusau on September 2, 1965, Lawal is the local boy in whom the people have reposed their trust because he has always remained in touch with them. Though he has lived and worked in Washington DC, Abuja, Lagos and London amongst other places while developing himself and pursuing an illustrious career in banking and the financial services sector, he has remained firmly rooted in Zamfara where people have easy access to him on a regular basis.

Dr. Lawal is known throughout Zamfara and across the North as a philanthropist, a problem-solver and unifier, who uses his wide contacts for the common good of his people and the society at large. He is a bridge-builder, who is highly regarded for his pleasant, humble, calm and generous spirit and who has a special bond with both grassroots and the elites, making him quite unique.

Urbane, cosmopolitan and vastly experienced, the people didn’t make a mistake by asking him to throw his hat into the political ring to seek the governorship ticket of the APC. Even before the issue of seeking political office came up, Gamjin Gusau has been a government of sorts in the state to the people, developing both human and physical infrastructure.

Apart from giving scholarships regularly to Zamfara indigenes to study within and outside the state, Dr. Lawal has also contributed to improving the schools in Zamfara ensuring they are conducive for studying b providing decent accommodation. He has built hostels at the School of Health Technology, Tsafe and at SNMW, Gusau. Lawal also dualised a road at the Federal University, Gusau; renovated the Muslim Foundation Islamiyya School, Gusau and rebuilt the Muslim Foundation Jumat Mosque also in the state capital and built classrooms for the school of nursing in Tsafe. That’s not all, he ensured that the dead have a decent final resting place by renovating the Gada Biyu Cemetery in Gusau and instituted several SMEs schemes across northern Nigeria. These are just a few of the philanthropic work, Lawal has undertaken in his state. His commitment to education and learning has stretched all the way to other states including Kaduna, where his former department in ABU has benefitted from new befitting lecture halls and Sokoto State was so pleased with his contributions to the Dan Fodio University, they rewarded him with a honourary doctorate degree

Little surprise then that he has been conscripted into the governorship race to positively turn around the people’s lives and empower them while ensuring their safety, given the current situation in the state. The once peaceful and secure state is no longer safe due to the activities of armed bandits who have had free reign in the past year, looting, killing and maiming. Communities across the state now live in constant fear of the killers despite the ongoing military offensive by the army and air force.

Economically, the people are not faring better with a significant number impoverished. According to the United Nations Poverty Index, the state has a 91.9% poverty rate, making it the poorest state in Nigeria despite its abundant agriculture and mineral resources. Zamfara also has one of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates, while literacy rate among its population is also one of the lowest in Nigeria.

However, the people have an enabler in the serious-minded aspirant. Dr Lawal emerging as the APC standard bearer and the eventual governor will stem the tide of negativity in Zamfara. Considering his close bond with the people who love and trust him because of his track record of service, hard work, respect and bridge-building skills, the APC at the state and national level will do well to ensure a level playing field for all aspirants to boost Lawal’s emergence.

Direct primaries, as recommended by the national working committee of the party should be adopted in the state as against the indirect primaries being advocated in some quarters to ensure a free and fair process that will be beneficial to all aspirants.

Though there have been talks of a successor anointed by the incumbent governor Abdulaziz Yari, the APC at the national level will do well to take a special interest in Zamfara and ensure only a sellable candidate emerges. The recent attack on Governor Yari’s convoy by supporters of aspirants who prefer direct primary to the indirect option the Governor is advocating is a pointer to what the people want. Many of indigenes of Zamfara are tired of the poverty, of the killings and of the indignity of being called the poorest of the poor in Nigeria. They want a leader who will enable and empower them and allow them to take their place among the leading states in Nigeria.

The Political Science graduate of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria on the ballot as its standard bearer, the APC can be assured of retaining the state. Working with the aspirant, the party would be able to ensure a sweeping victory and safeguard the President’s victory in the general election to enable him to pursue and entrench the good policies of his administration.

More importantly, the experienced banker will be able to lift Zamfara out of poverty, bring an end to the conflict bedevilling the state, ensure lasting peace and promote rapid development. A safe, secure, prosperous and investment-friendly state is what Lawal signifies and explains why the people want him as their governor. And this is not a farfetched dream. It’s clear that Zamfara has punched below its weight in recent times. The leadership of the state has failed woefully in providing the enabling environment for agriculture and mining, to thrive, two things that when harnessed successfully can turn the fortunes of the state around. The person to remedy this and take the state to next level of development is the former Executive Director, Public Sector Group, First Bank.

With over 25 years of meritorious service in the private and public sector, Zamfara will head in the right direction with Lawal, a caring man who knows where the shoe pinches and who is not afraid of working hard to lift his people from the morass of poverty. In terms of educational and professional qualifications, none comes better recommended than Lawal who gained a B.Sc. in Political Science and M.SC in Political Science and International Relations from the Ahmadu Bello University before further developing himself by taking courses at prestigious universities including the London School of Economics, Harvard Business School, Oxford University Business School and Lagos Business School among others.

Starting out as a Political Education Officer with the defunct MAMSER, the holder of an honorary doctorate degree from the Usman Dan Fodiyo University, Sokoto was Assistant General Manager at Westex Nigeria Ltd from 1989 to 1992. He joined the Nigerian Embassy in Washington as Assistant Consular Officer in 1994 and left in 2003 as Chief Protocol Officer. He moved to the private sector after this, joining First Bank as a middle management staff and leaving in 2017 as executive director, Public Sector Group.

If he clinches the APC ticket and eventually emerges the governor, Zamfara would be entering a glorious dawn where the people’s wellbeing will come ahead of any other thing.

The people of Zamfara deserve better and it will be a travesty against them if these elections are stolen and they are once again saddled with leader who will spend 90 percent of his time enjoying the many attractions Abuja has to offer, while his people continue to languish and suffer dying from disease, hunger and insecurity.

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