Dauda Lawal

Dauda Lawal (born 2 September 1965) is a Nigerian banker and politician who is the governor of Zamfara state. He was elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 Nigerian gubernatorial elections defeating the incumbent Governor Bello Matawalle of the APC.

He is an established leader in the Nigerian Banking Industry and is known to be one of the key players in the financial sector of the Nigerian Economy as he served as the executive director, Public Sector North, of First Bank of Nigeria Plc. He was sworn in as a governor on 29th may 2023.

Early life
Dauda Lawal was born on 2 September 1965 into a humble family popularly known in the textile industry in Gusau, Northern Nigeria, he is the 3rd child of Textile Don & Guru, Lawal Muhammad Dare. From a very young age, he was taken to his maternal grandparents’ house in Guga village in Katsina State where he got his primary education, then went to Government Secondary School, Kankia for his Secondary Education.

Education
Lawal graduated from Ahmadu Bello University in 1987 with B.Sc. in political science, he obtained an M.Sc. in political science/international relations from the same university in 1992, and holds a PhD in business administration from Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, before going further to develop himself by taking courses at prestigious universities, including the London School of Economics, Harvard Business School, Oxford University Business School, Massachusetts, USA; Wharton Business School, Pennsylvania; Oxford University Business School; International Faculty of Finance, London; Fitch Training, London & New York,and Lagos Business School among others.

Lawal is a Fellow, Institute of Credit Administration of Nigeria; Fellow, Civilian Institute of Democratic Administration of Ghana; Member, Institute of Directors, Nigeria; Member,Institute of Corporate Administration, Nigeria; and African Business Roundtable.

Professional career
He started his working career in 1989 as a political education officer with the Agency for Mass Mobilization for Social and Economic Reliance Nigeria. In 1989, he joined Westex Nigeria Limited as an assistant general manager. In 1994, he was appointed as an assistant consular officer (immigration), and later chief protocol officer, Embassy of Nigeria, Washington, D.C., US. Lawal joined First Bank of Nigeria Plc in May 2003; as relationship manager, commercial banking, and was at various times senior manager, Abuja Area office, business development manager, Abuja, principal manager, group head PSG II, assistant general manager (business development manager), Maitama, deputy general manager (business development manager), Maitama/group head public sector, Abuja. Between October 2010 and September 2011, Lawal was elevated to the position of executive vice president, public sector North, of First Bank of Nigeria Plc. In September 2012 he became executive director, Public Sector North, of First Bank of Nigeria Plc.

When Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was Central Bank Governor, Lawal served as his special adviser on Islamic banking leading reforms that have since allowed the emergence of Jaiz, TAJ & Lotus banks.

Lawal worked sedulously surpassing his targets regularly Between 2010 and 2011, Lawal rose to be the Executive Vice President, Public Sector North, of First Bank of Nigeria Plc. He joined the Board of First Bank in 2012 & became Executive Director, Public Sector North In 2014, he vied for the position of MD/CEO of First Bank. He lost the race by just a single vote and he resigned from the Bank. Lawal alongside he very old friend Munir Umaru Baba started Credent Capital and Advisory Limited, they launched it with an initial Capital base of $500 million which was about N100 billion. With just 15 skilled Investment staff, they have invested & managed over $2 billion or N1 trillion for 175+ clients across the world since then.

Lawal also has an honorary Doctorate degree in Business Administration (DBA) from Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. He received the prestigious African Achievers Award in 2021 at the Kensington Palace London.

Political career
Lawal joined partisan politics in the run up to the 2019 general elections. He aspired to be flag-bearer of the APC for the Governorship ticket of Zamfara State, and was part of G8 (a coalition of gubernatorial aspirants fighting with then incumbent governor Abdul'aziz Abubakar Yari). G8 included Kabir Garba Marafa; a seating senator, Mahmud Shinkafi; a former governor of the state, Mansur Dan Ali; ex-Defence Minister, Ibrahim Wakkala; Yari's deputy, Sani Jaji; Chairman House Committee on Intelligence and Security at the time, Abubakar Magaji; Rtd Perm-Sec and Late. Sagir Hamidu; Rtd Director, FCDA. The G8 were responsible for scuttling all attempts by Yari to conduct a Primary election where he would impose his anointed candidate Koguna on them. They also started the court proceedings that ended with Supreme Court Judgement against the APC. Even though Marafa was the most outspoken in the group, Lawal was the financial muscle & money bag of the group. He single handedly sponsored 90% of all activities of the G8. Lawal ran for office of the governor of Zamfara State in the APC primary election held in 2018 but lost to Mukhtar Shehu Idris.

He ran again in the PDP primary in 2022 and was nominated the party's flag bearer. In March 2023, he defeated incumbent Bello Matawalle to be elected governor of Zamfara State.

In what many political pundits described as one of the biggest upsets of the 2023 general elections, Lawal unseated incumbent governor Bello Matawalle in the March 18 governorship election. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Lawal the governor-elect with a total of 377,726 votes to defeat Matawalle of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who polled 311,976. Surprisingly, the PDP had never won a governorship election in Zamfara since 1999. The main opposition party lost to the various iterations of the ruling party in previous elections: from the All People's Party (APP) to the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) to the APC. Matawalle himself came to power as a PDP candidate in 2019, but it was the Supreme Court that gave him the top job having penalized the APC for not nominating its victorious candidate through valid primaries. In 2021, Matawalle decamped to the ruling APC.

Awards
FirstBank CEO Merit Award for Outstanding Performance as the "Best Business Development Manager" in 2006 and "The Most Enterprising Staff" in 2009.