In February 2026, Zamfara State governor Dauda Lawal told Radio DW Hausa that since taking office in 2023, his administration has received no federal intervention funds beyond statutory allocations. The way he understood it, the reason for this is that he belongs to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party.
It is a big allegation. According to the governor, some states have secured over N500 billion in federal support, but Zamfara has been excluded from palliatives tied to fuel subsidy removal and other interventions. For a state grappling with banditry and economic fragility, that omission feels less procedural than existential.
Viewing it all as a political cartography, Lawal is the only opposition governor in the North West, a zone otherwise controlled by the ruling All Progressives Congress.
In Nigeria’s federal ecosystem, being aligned with the centre normally means sharing in the quiet dividends. Whereas misalignment can feel like austerity by other means.
Still, the governor insists he has managed without new borrowing. Each month, he says, N1.2 billion is deducted to service inherited debts before funds reach the state. Clearly, he means to signal probity while still emphasising fiscal precarity.
Hovering over this dispute is a long-running rivalry with his predecessor, Bello Matawalle, now Minister of State for Defence. Accusations have ricocheted between camps: alleged talks with bandits, disputed budgets, and claims of maladministration. The atmosphere is febrile; the facts are fiercely contested.
Meanwhile, rumours of defection persist. Kano’s governor reportedly crossed over and soon secured federal relief for fire victims. Lawal resists that script. Consultation first, he says; principle second. In other news, the divine character of power remains.
The irony is at first quiet but ultimately sharp: a governor arguing that loyalty to a party should not determine access to national funds must now prove that independence carries no fiscal penalty.
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