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Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State is taking a mandate that once defied the odds into the 2027 governorship election. Many people in the state say this is a verdict in waiting. Their argument rests on the premise that the state has not had it as good. For them, it means that Governor Lawal is steadily redefining governance, surpassing good governance delivered by his predecessors. If this becomes the mantra as the months roll by, it would mean that Lawal will break a jinx in Zamfara, a state where incumbency has rarely been a safe bet and where political loyalties have shifted often.
Recall that in 2023, Lawal roundly defeated the incumbent, Bello Matawalle, to become governor on the platform of the PDP. As at that date, PDP had never won a governorship election there. The legal challenge to his victory ended in disappointment for the ruling party as the Supreme Court, in January 2024, upheld his election. That decision brought to an end the legal argument over his mandate. Between then and now, the game has changed as Lawal has successfully drawn more plaudits to himself through his governance deliveries. For this, his supporters have argued that he won the hard 2024 race with no incumbent machinery behind him and has already shown what he can do with available resources; he now runs for a second term with every advantage he lacked in 2024.
However, any plan to unseat a governor in Nigeria’s political field needs a rival coalition with resources, structure and an argument. But the fact is that the opposition in Zamfara is bereft of these, thanks to Lawal’s defection to the APC, which he described as a strategic decision to work with the federal government and the Renewed Hope Agenda. At a stakeholders’ meeting in Gusau, party leaders endorsed both Tinubu and Lawal for second terms, with four former governors in attendance, including Yari and Matawalle. The significance is that two of the men who once led the state’s most powerful political camps now sit at his table. For decades, Zamfara politics was defined by rivalries among these men. However, their reconciliation is now rated as his most underrated political achievement.
Lawal’s emergence as APC’s governorship candidate for 2027 was described as a consensus arrangement meant to avoid a contentious primary. His allies say his re-election is already secured because he was able to put the party’s house in order before the contest begins. This suggests that a rival who has to build a coalition from scratch, against a governor at home with the party and the people, faces an almost impossible task.
No Zamfara politician can win or lose without security, and insecurity was the defining crisis of the state for years. Supporters argue that Lawal’s approach combines military cooperation with community-level engagement. The Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede, has praised him for “uncommon” support to Operation Fansan Yamma, which suggests the state government is a serious partner to the security forces.
A support group, the Dauda Lawal Engagement and Sensitisation Forum, argues that the administration’s kinetic and non-kinetic approach has yielded results, and that Zamfara is no longer under siege. The larger point is that farmers can return to fields, traders can move goods, and communities can plan for the future in ways they could not before. Supporters say voters now see Zamfara not as a state at war but as a state that is recovering.
Besides, governors are judged on what people can see and use, and roads are the plainest example. Supporters point to a list of completed and ongoing works. The support forum cites the 9.2km Gusau Township Roads Phase 1, the dualisation of Sani Abacha Way, 5.1km of roads in Kaura Namoda and 4.8km in Talata Mafara. It also lists ongoing work on the Gusau-Tsafe-Funtua and Maru-Anka-Bagega roads, plus over 80km of rural feeder roads graded in Gummi, Bukkuyum and Bungudu as positive marks.
The rural feeder roads matter most for a largely agrarian state. A graded road lets a farmer reach a market before his produce spoils. It also lets a clinic receive supplies and enables children to reach their schools. The same forum says the long-abandoned Zamfara Cargo Airport in Gusau has been completed, certified and is now operational. What this entails is that a visible list of finished projects allows Lawal to make his case in concrete terms. The implication is that voters do not need to trust a promise when they can see and feel the result.
For a state with a large civil service, workers’ pay is a serious electoral matter, since salaries feed families, local markets and neighbourhoods. Supporters say the Lawal administration has changed the relationship between government and workers. Groups backing him say he implemented the N70,000 national minimum wage, which they describe as the first time such an implementation has happened since the state’s creation in 1996. The State Head of Service says the government cleared N13 billion in pension and gratuity arrears within two years and extended the minimum wage to local government staff. A ThisDay profile adds that workers received a 13th-month salary bonus in December, which carried enormous weight in a state where arrears were once tradition.
One early step supporters credit is cleaning up the payroll by removing ghost workers and blocking financial leakages. This is the less glamorous side of welfare, because the money for higher wages had to come from somewhere. Retirees who finally received long-owed gratuities, teachers paid on time, and local government workers included in the wage award are all voters, and they talk to their neighbours. The labour unions marked Workers’ Day in 2026 by commending the government’s efforts while urging a stronger response on welfare and insecurity, which is what a constituency with a working relationship with its governor sounds like.
Security, roads and wages are part of a broader governance picture. In education, the profile cites N3.4 billion in cleared WAEC/NECO debts, hundreds of rehabilitated schools, thousands of teachers recruited and World Bank-supported AGILE mega schools with a focus on girl-child education. In April 2026, the governor approved a 120-day Rapid Intervention Action Plan to address systemic failures in the education sector, which shows an administration still working on problems after three years in office. On finances, the governor has stated that he has not borrowed a single kobo from any financial institution since assuming office. This set him apart from many of his peers. He has also told the president that the state’s internally generated revenue has increased.
Paying the Minimum Wage in a state like Zamfara, fixing roads, protecting the people, providing access to education and spending wisely differs from his predecessors, some of whom treated the state treasury as a prize. This is precisely why his opposition cannot find anything to campaign against him with. To effectively challenge Lawal, one would need three things, including a credible alternative record, a united coalition and a message that cuts through. Sadly, the opposition does not have a record in office to compare, because the former governors now sit with Lawal at the same table. They are on his side. So, the opposition is orphaned, with no obvious unifying figure. Besides, its message would have to argue that Zamfarans are worse off. But that message would be told to voters who are being paid on time and driving on new roads. That’s stillbirth.
Lawal’s ability to commission projects, to reach every local government, to reward loyalty and to present continuity as the safe choice is an election asset. The governor’s own message, that he will consolidate the gains in security, education, healthcare and economic empowerment, appeals more to the people who believe that another four years for Lawal will see them through better governance delivery, making their investment in him worth the effort.
The case for Lawal’s re-election rests on a simple sequence. He won against the odds in 2023, then built a broad coalition that absorbed the state’s political heavyweights, and has paired that with visible delivery on the issues voters care about most. For his supporters, therefore, the result of the 2027 governorship election is less a contest than a confirmation.
