If I were asked, would I say it’s the same Dauda Lawal I knew five years ago? I would definitely answer with a capital letter NO.
On his 55th birthday in 2020, I wrote a tribute titled ‘The Dauda Lawal I Know,’ describing him as a symbolic interactionist: a retired banker seeking a quiet, private life, as the Hausa people will always say, ‘ba hayaniya.’ As fate would have it, in 2021, despite all the character assassinations and many campaigns of calumny against Dauda, he responded to a very difficult distress plea from his people in Zamfara State: ‘Help us, Dauda’.
The Dauda Lawal of 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 can be viewed as someone who sees society from a micro perspective, who sees how people create reality, because of his previous role as a banker who reached the zenith of his profession.
Since May 29th 2023, I have seen the evolution of an entirely different Dauda Lawal, who, if not for his educational background at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, I would have assumed had learnt from the founding fathers of Sociology, such as Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim, as well as contemporary structural functionalist scholars.
Over the three years we have been in government, and during Dauda’s tenure as Governor of Zamfara State, I have witnessed him govern not in a rush but with precision, aiming for results; it is indeed the mighty sociological theory of Functionalism at play.
I have seen commitment and a governor who understands Auguste Comte very well, by prioritising the fact that a society is an integrated organic whole where institutions (like security, education, health, economy, etc) are deeply interconnected and rely on each other to keep the social system running smoothly, much like organs in a living body.