He started his working career in 1989 as a political education officer with the Agency for Mass Mobilization for Social and Economic Reliance Nigeria. In 1989, he joined Westex Nigeria Limited as an assistant general manager.[2]
In 1994, he was appointed as an assistant consular officer (immigration), and later chief protocol officer, Embassy of Nigeria, Washington, D.C., US. Lawal joined First Bank of Nigeria Plc in May 2003; as relationship manager, commercial banking, and was at various times senior manager, Abuja Area office, business development manager, Abuja, principal manager, group head PSG II, assistant general manager (business development manager), Maitama, deputy general manager (business development manager), Maitama/group head public sector, Abuja. Between October 2010 and September 2011, Lawal was elevated to the position of executive vice president, public sector North, of First Bank of Nigeria Plc. In September 2012 he became executive director, Public Sector North, of First Bank of Nigeria Plc.[3]
In one of the biggest upsets of the 2023 general elections, Lawal unseated incumbent governor Bello Matawalle in the March 18 governorship election. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Lawal the governor-elect with a total of 377,726 votes to defeat Matawalle of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who polled 311,976. Surprisingly, the PDP had never won a governorship election in Zamfara since 1999. The main opposition party lost to the various iterations of the ruling party in previous elections: from the All People's Party (APP) to the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) to the APC. Matawalle himself came to power as a PDP candidate in 2019, but it was the Supreme Court that gave him the top job having penalized the APC for not nominating its victorious candidate through valid primaries. In 2021, Matawalle decamped to the ruling APC.[6]
In his first year in office, Lawal completed projects in Bakura and Aradun,[7] and in Gummi, Bukkuyum, and Maru Local Government Areas.[8]
Awards
Lawal received the FirstBank CEO Merit Award for Outstanding Performance as the "Best Business Development Manager" in 2006 and "The Most Enterprising Staff" in 2009.[9]
In 2024 he received he Distinguished Award for Project Innovation at the Nigeria Excellence in Public Service (NEAPS) awards. [10]