By: John Bassey, Zamfara.

The Zamfara state chapter of the All Progressive Congress, APC, has accused Governor Dr. Dauda Lawal of over taxation, wanton exploitation to enrich relatives, and appointing a native of Funtua in Katsina state as the Chairman, Zamfara Board of Internal Revenue.

This was contained in a statement issued by Comrade Yusuf Idris Gusau, APC Publicity Secretary, to Journalists on Wednesday, October 29th, 2025, in Gusau, the state capital.

The statement centered on non-defensible reasons, but also expressed concerns about the mishandling of power and mandate, as Zamfara State Governor, Dr. Dauda Lawal, has decided to enrich one Rakkiya Ahmad Dodo from Funtua, Katsina State, with a staggering N3.6 billion annually.

The Party was again baffled by the Governor’s decision of syphoning Zamfara money, with the only near answer being, taking the money to enrich his Funtua relations, not minding how much positive changes such funds could impact on the poverty-ridden, bandit-ravaged state like Zamfara.

The Governor and his PDP government have refused to pity the people of the state, who have been ravaged by insecurity without any readiness or government commitments to help the victims and the government is now taxing people of the state above their daily incomes as the whole of the Zamfara State state is experiencing a deep form of revenue collection that does not pity even a less than N5000 earner in a month.

Zamfara internal revenue is now being managed by a Funtua indigene, Rakiyya Ahmad Dodo who designs how to tax or collect revenues from the people of the state ranging from barrow pushers, Kabu-Kabu, Tea sellers, Gala fryers, keke Napep operators, fura vendors, and even sewage collectors who are servicing the revenue board POS daily despite the huge federal allocation the government is receiving which is between 35 to 40 billion naira.

The latest victims of such vicious revenue collection are members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria IPMAN who just withdrew their protest over tax charges imposed on them by the state government, causing a total shutdown of all filling stations in Zamfara State.

Although it is possible that the IPMAN members can pay, the government is supposed to realise that the pain will certainly be on the end user – the Zamfara people.

As it is, IPMAN said in the final analysis, it’s the poor man who’ll suffer because they are ready to shut down business till the government agrees to a favourable settlement, but they yielded to public pleas to rescind their decision of complete shutdown of filling stations in the state.

Under such hard times faced by the people, if petrol supply is truncated, everything will grind to a standstill in the state, including bringing out produce from the farms, which means more hunger and agitation.

Hajiya Rakkiya, who is in business, may be smiling home with her N300 million monthly, as revealed by the governor himself, who told the world that his government makes N2 billion monthly and gives Rakkiya Ahmad Dodo 15 per cent; they may not be feeling the excruciating pain of the people.

Moreso, the governor has vehemently refused to support security agencies with logistics, which slows down their operations. He could have invested the N300 million to rehabilitate and resettle bandit-attacked victims.

Recall that when APC was in power, it empowered traders and businesses, especially small and medium-scale, making sure that all those who managed the state’s revenue were drawn from within the state because we have capable hands to manage the state resources, unlike Dauda’s, where family and friends are more involved.

The PDP government of Zamfara State under Governor Dauda Lawal may think it is copying the revenue drive of the former Kaduna state governor, but it has certainly gotten it wrong as the two scenarios are apart in all dimensions

The governor must understand that the operation of the public sector is not revenue-driven but social responsibility and adequate welfare of his people, and with this anti-people posture, Dauda Lawal and his gang are causing a lot of hardship on the people of the state.

We condemn this anti-mercy revenue collection that is creating a lot of hardship for the citizens of the state.

APC, however, strongly commends IPMAN for reconsidering the plight of the people of the state and reopening the filling stations for the benefit of all. Because governor Dauda Lawal is not after the welfare of the state citizens or how can a governor tell his protesting dismissed workers that he will never reinstate them like in the video now trending on social media.