Dauda Lawal: A Wailing Wailer

By Deyemi Saka

From May 29 2023 that Mr. Dauda Lawal assumed office as the governor of Zamfara State, it had been one week one alarm raised.

One would expect a man whose immediate task is to gain the confidence and cooperation of Zamfarans as his victory was a subject of dispute, it is one media circus or the other.

The first major distraction was the allegations that former Governor Bello Matawalle ( in his words) had gone away with 17 vehicles from his office and those in the deputy governor’s office claiming that the vehicles are his (Matawalle) personal belongings. He made this claim while on a program on a local radio station in Gusau and further claimed office equipment were not spared,”

We all remember how that ended. There was a judicial pronouncement which established that such claims were frivolous, false, ridiculous and mere exaggeration.

After getting a bloodied nose and ego bruised, one would have expected Gov Dauda Lawal and his hatchet men to abandon such unproductive agenda, but they rather got emboldened.

Few weeks ago, the Governor who while missing in action as female students of the Federal University Gusau were abducted from their off-campus residence at Sabo Gida village in Bungudu Local Government Area. While the Federal Government through relevant security agencies embarked on a rescue mission, in a bid for Mr. Lawal to save his face because of the leadership naivety and insensitivity he demonstrated by embarking on a foreign trip and refusing to cut short his trip, it was another needless outburst which he claimed the federal government was negotiating with terrorists in the state without his knowledge.

True to their antics, a faceless group named “Zamfara Circle” issued a statement signed by one Aminu M. Lawal Tsafe, mischievously called for the redeployment of the Hon. Minister of State for Defence to another Ministry, Dr. Bello Muhammed Matawalle.

Unperturbed, and undaunted by the his growing unpopularity due to this political witch-hunt and ceaseless display of knowledge-gap of essence of governance, Gov. Dauda Lawal and his gang are back in the media with another allegation against his predecessor.

In a move which is not unexpected, and in a bid to excuse his poor performance since he got into office, the governor claimed the bad financial situation the current administration met in Zamfara State was caused by the past government of Bello Matawalle.

In a widely syndicate news report, he alleged that the former governor directed the Ministry of Local Government to withdraw N1 billion from the Local Government Joint Account on October 25, 2021, and to pay N825 million to the contractors therefrom without any valuation.
He said this was in complete disregard of due process.

If the recent statement by Mr. Lawal is anything to go by, a downward review of a contract amount to graft. Claiming that no reputable bidder would not agree to a drastic reduction in cost while none to the scope of work is an evidence of corruption is watery and childish.

No reputable company will like to lose a good client and its integrity by insisting of defending a proposal which is outlandish, padded, and highly inflated while putting into consideration the economic realities on ground.

Governor Dauda Lawal should be reminded that the coffers of Zamfara State is not a personal bank account of Dr. Matawalle. While it is not open to any debate that as a head of government, he is responsible for the actions and inactions of his administration, this doesn’t mean things were done without recourse to extant laws of our land. Whatever amount that was paid to contractors would have been captured in the State’s Appropriation Act for the year such payment was made.

When the news broke that the government of the day provided evidence of embezzlement against the former governor, I was expecting hard facts and documents to back up such claims. I never expected rhetorics and usual mudslinging.

There is a need for the governor to be urged to get busy with serious business of governance and not committed to being a wailing wailer.

Deyemi Saka is a journalist and media consultant.