The Zamfara Good Governance Agenda (ZAGGA) has called on Governor Dauda Lawal to immediately resign from office, accusing him of gross abuse of power, deepening political instability, and an intolerable level of incompetence that has plunged the state into chaos.
The group’s demand follows the emergence of a parallel Zamfara State House of Assembly, where ten lawmakers reconvened to elect a new speaker after months of suspension and alleged harassment.
In a strongly worded statement signed by Mallam Abubakar Gunmi, President of ZAGGA, the group held the governor solely responsible for the escalating breakdown of governance in the state.
“Governor Dauda Lawal has shown an absolute disregard for democratic norms and has failed to uphold the basic tenets of good governance. His insincerity, highhandedness and inability to tolerate dissenting views have reduced Zamfara to a theatre of confusion,” the statement reads.
“Zamfara is not a monarchy, and Dauda Lawal is not a king. Yet he carries on as if he is the constitution, the law, and the judge all rolled into one. How do you explain a governor who considers disagreement a crime and treats elected lawmakers like insubordinate staff? This is not leadership; it is tyranny in plain sight.”
The group accused the governor of deliberately weaponising insecurity to serve political ends, noting that rather than tackle the security crisis head-on, he has politicised the suffering of the people.
“Yes, insecurity predates this administration, but never in the history of Zamfara has the situation been this hopeless. Governor Lawal came into office with the promise of reforms, yet he has done nothing but point fingers, while bandits overrun communities, schools remain shut, and our people sleep with one eye open,” ZAGGA said.
“Security is not a slogan; it’s a responsibility. But instead of acting, the governor spends his time silencing critics, sacking civil servants, and orchestrating a legislative coup. His priorities are clear, and the welfare of Zamfara’s citizens is not one of them.”
ZAGGA expressed alarm at what it called the “systematic erosion of institutional integrity” in the state, warning that Governor Lawal’s continued stay in office poses a grave threat to the survival of democracy in Zamfara.
“This is not about politics. This is about the soul of a state under siege. If Dauda Lawal still has any honour left, he must resign. Otherwise, we will have no choice but to mobilise the people of Zamfara for the kind of civil disobedience that history records as necessary for restoration,” the statement added.
The group also pointed to the worsening state of education, deteriorating infrastructure, and the governor’s alleged refusal to engage with stakeholders on policy decisions as further proof of his “unfitness to govern”.
“Education has collapsed. Development has stalled. And the governor surrounds himself with yes-men who tell him what he wants to hear, not what the people need to know. There is no vision, no direction, just a blind obsession with consolidating power,” Mallam Gunmi noted.
ZAGGA warned that unless decisive measures are taken, the crisis in Zamfara could spiral beyond repair.
As a last resort, the group called on the federal government to declare a state of emergency in the state to restore order and reset governance.
“We are calling on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take urgent and lawful steps to salvage Zamfara from total collapse. What we are seeing is the systematic breakdown of democratic governance, and only a neutral intervention can restore sanity,” the statement concluded.
ZAGGA says it will begin statewide consultations and peaceful mobilisations to demand the resignation of the governor, vowing that silence is no longer an option when the future of a state is at stake.
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