Zamfara APC Chieftain, Lawal Defects To PDP, Joins Governorship Race

A map of Zamfara in north-west Nigeria.

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara State, Dr Dauda Lawal, has left the ruling party for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Lawal, a former Executive Director of First Bank PLC, also declared his interest to contest the governorship election on the platform of his new party – PDP.

He made the announcement over the weekend while addressing a crowd of supporters at his residence in Gusau, the state capital.

The governorship aspirant described the APC-led government both at the state and federal levels as a failure, saying that the party was tired and faltering.

He explained that his decision to join the governorship race was because of his concern for the security and economic challenges bedevilling various parts of Zamfara.

Zamfara, he stated, was one of the worst-hit states in terms of insecurity and as a concerned citizen of the state, there was a need to bring the much-needed change in the affairs of governance in the state.

“We all know the challenges we are facing in the area of security,” he said. “Today I can tell you that Zamfara is one of the worst, if not the worst in the area of security and the reality is without security, there will be no meaningful life and we cannot basically do anything.”

Lawal added that it was a statement of fact that none of Zamfara State’s indigenes could sit for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) because of the failure of the state government to pay the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).

“As we speak today, none of the Zamfara indigenes is going to write WAEC (examination) and you will agree with me that education today is the backbone of everything we do in life; without education, we are nobody,” the governorship aspirant avowed.

“In the area where we have a competitive advantage, which is agriculture, today we are nowhere and as a matter of fact, we are finding it very difficult to even feed ourselves not to consider exporting to our neighbours for commercial activities.”

He, therefore, appealed to the residents of Zamfara to come together and vote for change for the progress and development of the state.