Use Your Security Vote to Address Insecurity and Stop the Blame Game - Arewa Youth Tells Gov Dauda Lawal

The Arewa Youth Network for Peace (AYNP) has described Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal as an utterly ineffective leader whose tenure has plunged the state into a cesspool of insecurity, illegal mining, and governance collapse.

In a statement issued in Kaduna on Tuesday, the group accused Lawal of squandering Zamfara’s vast resources while offering nothing but excuses, starkly contrasting his failures with the tangible achievements of other governors like Nasarawa’s Abdullahi Sule.

“Dauda Lawal is a monumental disappointment, a governor who has turned Zamfara into a bandit’s paradise while hiding behind hollow rhetoric,” said Comrade Yusuf Idris, the group’s convener.

“Unlike his counterparts who have transformed their states with far less, Lawal has no achievements to his name—only a legacy of chaos, misery, and misrule.”

The group drew inspiration from Governor Sule’s remarks at the 2025 Northern Nigeria Investment and Industrialisation Summit in Abuja, where he challenged governors to take full responsibility for security amid unprecedented federal allocations.

Sule revealed that monthly disbursements to the three tiers of government have quadrupled under President Bola Tinubu’s reforms, with over N2.2 trillion shared in August alone, compared to N590 billion to N620 billion in 2019.

“Every state now has the resources to secure its people. We should stop blaming anybody for our security. If we are blaming anybody, blame ourselves,” Sule declared.

The Arewa Youth Network turned this into a scathing indictment of Lawal’s leadership. “While Sule has attracted investors to build a 3,000-metric-tonne-per-day mineral processing plant and completed another 6,000-tonne facility in Nasarawa, Lawal has allowed illegal mining to flourish in Zamfara, bankrolling bandits and devastating communities,” Idris charged.

“Zamfara’s security vote is a bottomless pit, yet bandits roam freely, schools remain shuttered, and farmers are too terrified to till their land. Lawal’s administration is a masterclass in incompetence.”

The group didn’t hold back, accusing Lawal of abandoning Zamfara’s people to their fate. “Under Lawal, governance is a myth. Roads are death traps, hospitals are empty shells, and communities are ghost towns.

"He has failed to deliver even a single project that justifies the billions pouring into Zamfara monthly,” Idris said.

“Compare this to Nasarawa, where Sule has confirmed oil reserves of five to seven million barrels and expanded rice cultivation from 3,300 to 8,000 hectares. Lawal’s only talent is pointing fingers while Zamfara burns.”

The youth network further slammed Lawal for his apparent indifference to the suffering of Zamfara’s citizens. “Villages are sacked daily, women and children are kidnapped, and illegal miners operate with impunity under Lawal’s nose. Is this what leadership looks like?

"He should be ashamed to call himself a governor,” Idris fumed. “His security vote is a scandal, vanishing into thin air with no results.

"Lawal is not just failing—he’s actively making things worse.”

The group called on Lawal to take a cue from proactive governors like Sule, who have harnessed increased allocations to drive security and development.

“Stop whining, stop blaming others, and start governing. Zamfara’s people deserve a leader, not a chronic underachiever who watches as the state collapses,” Idris said.

“If Lawal cannot deliver, he should resign and spare Zamfara further agony.”