Dauda Lawal, a Nigerian banker and politician who was born on September 2, 1965, he is the governor-elect of Zamfara state.
He defeated incumbent Governor Bello Matawalle of the APC in the 2023 Nigerian gubernatorial elections by running on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket.
As the executive director of First Bank of Nigeria Plc’s Public Sector North, he is a well-known leader in the Nigerian banking sector and one of the main figures in the country’s financial industry.
Dauda Lawal, a Nigerian banker and politician who was born on September 2, 1965, is the state of Zamfara’s current governor. He defeated incumbent Governor Bello Matawalle of the APC in the 2023 Nigerian gubernatorial elections by running on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket.
As the executive director of First Bank of Nigeria Plc’s Public Sector North, he is a well-known leader in the Nigerian banking sector and one of the main figures in the country’s financial industry.
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Place of birth |
2 September 1965
Gusau, Northern Region, Nigeria (now in Zamfara State) |
| Nationality | Nigerian |
| Political party | Peoples Democratic Party |
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Early life
Dauda Lawal, the third child of Textile Don & Guru, Lawal Muhammad Dare, was born on September 2, 1965, into a modest family well recognized in the textile sector in Gusau, Northern Nigeria.
He had his elementary education at the home of his maternal grandparents in the Katsina State village of Guga from an early age, and he later completed his secondary school at the Government Secondary School in Kankia.
Education
Lawal earned a B.Sc. in political science from Ahmadu Bello University in 1987, an M.Sc. in political science/international relations from the same institution in 1992, and a PhD in business administration from Usmanu Danfodiyo University in Sokoto.
He then continued his education by enrolling in courses at esteemed institutions like the London School of Economics, Harvard Business School, Oxford University Business School, Massachusetts, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Lawal belongs to the African Business Roundtable, the Civilian Institute of Democratic Administration of Ghana, the Institute of Credit Administration of Nigeria, the Institute of Directors of Nigeria, and the Institute of Corporate Administration of Nigeria.
Professional career
He began his professional career in 1989 with the Agency for Mass Mobilization for Social and Economic Reliance Nigeria as a political education officer.
He worked as an assistant general manager for Westex Nigeria Limited starting in 1989. He was hired in 1994 as an assistant consular officer (immigration), and then promoted to chief protocol officer, in the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
As a relationship manager for commercial banking, Lawal joined First Bank of Nigeria Plc in May 2003.
He has also held various management positions including senior manager for the Abuja Area office, business development manager for Abuja, principal manager for group head PSG II, assistant general manager (business development manager) for Maitama, and deputy general manager (business development manager) for Maitama.
Lawal was promoted to executive vice president, public sector North, of First Bank of Nigeria Plc between October 2010 and September 2011. He was appointed executive director of First Bank of Nigeria Plc’s Public Sector North in September 2012.
Lawal served as Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s special adviser on Islamic banking during his time as governor of the central bank, helping to pioneer the reforms that eventually allowed the establishment of the Jaiz, TAJ, and Lotus banks.
Lawal diligently toiled, routinely surpassing his goals. Lawal progressed inside First Bank of Nigeria Plc between 2010 and 2011, eventually becoming the Executive Vice President, Public Sector North.
In 2012, he joined the First Bank Board and was appointed Executive Director, Public Sector North. He ran for the MD/CEO position at First Bank in 2014. At the age of 48, he resigned from the Bank after losing the election by by one vote.
Credent Capital and Advisory Limited was founded by Lawal and his longtime friend Munir Umaru Baba. The company’s initial capital base was $500 million, or around N100 billion.
Since then, they have managed approximately $2 billion, or N1 trillion, in investments for 175+ clients around the world with just 15 competent investment staff members.
Lawal also holds a DBA in Business Administration, an honorary doctorate from Usmanu Danfodiyo University in Sokoto.
In 2021, at the Kensington Palace London he was given the esteemed African Achievers Award.
Political career
In the lead-up to the 2019 general elections, Lawal entered partisan politics.
He was a member of G8 (a coalition of governors seeking to unseat then-incumbent Abdul’aziz Abubakar Yari), which aimed to be the APC’s flag-bearer for the Zamfara State governorship ticket.
G8 members included Kabir Garba Marafa, Mahmud Shinkafi, a sitting senator; Mansur Dan Ali, a former governor of the state; Ibrahim Wakkala, a former defense minister; Sani Jaji, Yari’s deputy; Abubakar Magaji, the then-chairman of the House Committee on Intelligence and Security; and Late Sagir Hamidu, a former director of the FCDA.
All of Yari’s attempts to hold a primary election where he would impose his chosen candidate Koguna on them were foiled by the G8.
They also initiated the legal actions that led to the APC being judged by the Supreme Court. Even though Marafa was the group’s loudest voice, Lawal was its financial backbone and money bag. He was the only funder of 90% of all G8 activities.
In the 2018 APC primary election, Lawal stood for governor of Zamfara State but was defeated by Mukhtar Shehu Idris. In the PDP primary of 2022, he ran once more and received the party’s flag-bearer nomination.
He won the March 2023 election to become governor of Zamfara State by defeating incumbent Bello Matawalle.
In the March 18 governorship election, Lawal defeated incumbent governor Bello Matawalle in what many political commentators hailed as one of the biggest upsets of the 2023 general elections.
In order to overcome Matawalle of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who received 311,976 votes, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) proclaimed Lawal the governor-elect with a total vote count of 377,726.
Unexpectedly, since 1999, the PDP had never won a governorship election in Zamfara.
In past elections, the All People’s Party (APP), All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), and the All Progressives Congress (APC) all defeated the main opposition party.
Matawalle ran for office in the PDP in 2019, but it was the Supreme Court that appointed him after fining the APC for failing to nominate its victor through legitimate primaries. Matawalle decamped allegiance to the APC in 2021.
Awards
FirstBank CEO Merit Award for Outstanding Performance as the “Best Business Development Manager” in 2006 and “The Most Enterprising Staff” in 2009.
Wife
Hurriyah Lawal, the wife of Dauda Lawal, the PDP candidate for governor of Zamfara State.
Net Worth
Dauda Lawal, a well-known politician and banker, was born in Nigeria on September 2, 1965. Dauda Lawal’s net worth is $5 Million as of January 9, 2023.
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