An average Ngerian Northerner is a very bold person, and his religious belief is primarily around his total submission to the will of the Almighty God. At the centre of a Northener's life is the will of the Almighty Allah, Subahana Wata'ala. In contrast to, especially a average Nigerians from the South South region, we would find a man who is determined in his mindset, and upon his believe in the grace of God, abundant and sufficient, being a Christian, possesses a vast sense of pride that takes his relationship with others for granted.

This opinion happens to have been raised in Northern Nigeria, and went very far in the North until he started living alone, from when he moved to Abuja, Nigeria, and lived there for more than 8 years. After that, he relocated to Port Harcourt, Nigeria. By this revelation, he finds himself able to decipher between the mindset of an average Northerner and that of a Southerner. This is the reason for this piece, and he is here in peace, and for peace.

It was in the story that conveyed the protest by some elites from the South South accusing the Buhari administration of supporting the Zamfara State government in demanding from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sums amounting to billions of Naira, in terms of compensation, for the mining of gold in the State that this opinion first learnt of the matter of the Zamfara State gold-demand and the CBN's debt.

The protest was on why the federal government would mine the oil minerals in the South South, remit 13% deviation from oil revenue to host communities in the region, while Zamfaqra State government is allowed to sell the solid mineral mined in the State to the federal government. This opinion was troubled about this submission. The question that propped up to raise this opinion was on how true the position of the South South elites was.

This opinion asked to understand the disjointed argument raised by that submission because there are issues in our constitution that confers exclusive legislative powers to the federal government to singularly deal with. This is why the exploration of soild minerals are carried out by government licenced mining companies, without huge investments by the federal government, as it is in oil exploration. In the area of mineral resource exploration and exploitation, the federal government controls solid and oil minerals development in Nigeria through the Ministries of Solid Minerals and that of Petroleum Resources.

There are visible reasons why the federal government handles the operations of her two mineral resource policy supervisory arms differently, but we will take just one of them: it should be very clear how the investments it took the federal government to develop the two mineral resource sectors are far apart. The federal government investment in the oil sector is not the same as that invested in the solid mineral sector because the oil mineral development is an earth crust-depth exploration, while solid mineral is a near earth surface adventure.

This is why the federal government through the Petroleum Ministry handles crude exploration and disposition, and through licenced companies collaborations handles the marketing of the product, and then remits revenues therefrom to the national purse. In the solid mineral sector, the federal government's responsibility ends with making the right laws and providing the conducive environment needed for private companies to obtain licences to privately mine the mineral and remit revenues accrued a accordingly to the federal government.

What Zamfara State government may have demanded could have been their own equivalent of the 13% derivation paid out to host communities in the Niger Delta region. What percentage from the gold mining revenues accruing to Nigeria is Zamfara State demanding? This should be what our South South governors should have worried about. So Governor Matawalle assertion that his governor-colleagues in the South South States are putting him through "difficult times" is understandable.

The governor is right because the right thing for his colleagues to have pursued was to investigate the depth of what the Zanfara State government was demanding, and elect to hear also from the governor himself. Very instructive was Governor Matawalle's commendation of the defection of Governor David Nweze Umahi of Ebonyi State from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), calling it courageous.

This clearly shows how the crack in the main opposition party, the PDP, is caused by the party's elites in the South South. They appears to be authoritative with controlling the affairs of the party, against the visible interests of two of the party's governors - one from the South East, and the other from the North West, as it has emerged. Without an iota of doubt, it is clear the reason why it is now widely believed that many governors and members of the PDP will soon defect to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

This opinion came this far in order to show how the myth that "the North is born to rule" is the creation and the reality of Nigerians from the South, though the South West has remained attempting to prove that it does not believe in the myth that "the North is born to rule", so the region continues to press hard to find political self-relevance even if they have to go it all alone. These defined the struggles political parties like the Action Group (AG), the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and the Alliance for Democracy (AD) endured.

This is the example of a Southerner's mindset, and the reason why Senator Ike Ekwerenmadu recently called his brothers from the South East to seek alliance with the North. The question to answer is why would Nigerians from the South South/East regions always think that they need the North to align with in order to prosper politically? This is the answer this opinion came this far to answer.

It is true that Nigeria is an amalgamation of diverse people, and it is a very vital demand in every relationship for the partners in the relationship to study and understand one another. It is in this duty that I see how the average Northerner has done his homework well and he is prospering in the Nigeria of his making however it turns out in anyone's psyche. The North appears settled in the Nigeria we have today, but it is not the same thing with the other regions.

In the very beginning it was the North that pressed for "araba" (separation), but as it is today, a part of the South West is agitating for the Oduduwa Republic, and a part of the South East is asking for the Indigenous Republic of Biafra. When did the switch happen, and how did it happen that the one who wanted separation in the beginning is now the one who is forcing the union?

It is simply because when the North saw their disadvantage in Nigeria, they protested against her independence; but after been persuaded by the British, they entered into the amalgamation with their senses at, and on alert. It was not the same approach of studying the North that the Southern leaders approached the Nigerian marriage. Today, the South defers to the North politically: this informed the victory of the APC, the main opposition party before 2015, in the 2015 Presidential election.

So while the average Northener was studying the mentality of his Southern brothers, to understand them in order to subdue them politically, the Southeners were showing off their advantage over the North, until they lost it. In Nigeria, the North stooped to conquer, it is not that the region was born to rule. So if this leadership role the North has assumed must be addressed for the political balance we direly need to be achieved, our leaders in the South must also learn to stoop, as it is unseeming, to also conquer.

I fear that sooner than later, the ambition of "the landlord" of the PDP will melt off like wax before a furnace. He failed when he thought that he could spend himslef dry to control the party, but forgot that the party is not run on money but upon the aspirations of the people making up the membership of the party. It is clear that whatsoever defections the PDP will suffer from in the coming days would arise because a forceful "Sheriff" is in charge of the party.

Ini Akpan Morgan writes from Uyo, Nigeria. Send feedback to WhatsApp chat via +234 810 2466 347

Nobody is born to rule.

Oga the question is why doesn't the north ever talk of secession even if it's for joking purpose, in the midst of all the hatred and insulte why?

What is all this rubbish?
Is ok with the O P the north is not good at sharing but very good at taking.

How many southerners own Gold mine there .

bigpriik:
Oga the question is why doesn't the north ever talk of secession even if it's for joking purpose, in the midst of all the hatred and insulte why?

Because they will return back to Stone age !
They hate civilisation with passion..
They called it Haram...

See face like cow shit You are born to rule cows not me