As Nigerians continue to mourn over the never ending fuel scarcity made worse by ‎the seeming insensitivity of the president/minister of petroleum and the endless empty reassurances of his minister of state, we may may tend to lose sight of the other happenings that will in no small measure further disintegrate an already divided nation.

A coupl‎e of weeks ago the governor of Kaduna state came up with a religious bill, obviously targeting Christians in his state. The thing about the man now know as ‘Herod of Kaduna’ is his arrogance which prevents him from seeing the obvious flaws in his arguments. The man has come to believe he alone has the monopoly of understanding issues, (I believe his condition is worsened by the legion of blind mices all around him – whose god is their rice filled bellies.

If common sense has left the ‘Herod of Kaduna’, is he not aware that the Nigerian constitution in section 38(sub section 1) guarantees freedom to “manifest and propagate religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance”. That the president whom governor Elrufai claims forced him to contest has not been able to call his ‘boy’ to order, one is tempted to believe there’s a deliberate attempt to ensure the constitution is only operational in certain parts of the country, while other parts operate their own laws.

A couple of days ago, stories of how hisbah in Kano went about destroying properties of tax paying ‎Nigerians from other parts of the country, in the name of religious policing were told. At a time when fulani herdsmen are going round destroying farmlands and killing the owners in other parts of the country, one wonders why the Kano state government cannot protect the lives and properties of law abiding citizens carrying out their legitimate businesses and contributing to the internally generated revenue of the state.

I am yet to hear that the Kano state governor or his officials has apologized to the victims of religious fanatism. Section 41 of the Nigerian constitution in the understanding of the Kano state governor means nothing. I am trying to imagine what would have happened if a south‎ern state had carried out such level of destruction on the properties of northen visitors. In essence section 41 of the Nigerian constitution applies only to those in the south, while the north under the guise of religion can act as they like, contravening the same constitution.

In an article ‎I wrote in 2014 ‘Regional Autonomy and Resource Control, The Way Forward For Nigeria’, I stated my believe in ownership and control of resources by various states while paying taxes to the centre as should be obtained in a federalism; but section 44(sub section 3) prevents states from harnessing their natural resources. As a matter of fact, the emphasis on ‘mineral oils and natural gas’ in this section gives the impression that the writers of the constitution clearly had the Niger-Delta region in mind. Any activity regarding oil in the Niger-Delta is seen as criminal, so far the federal government is not involved; but we have heard a state governor defend the illegal minning in his state, attributing it to hunger and poverty.

Governor Elrufai recently proclaimed that Kaduna state has more gold deposit than South-Africa(a news which gladens my heart, at last Kaduna state will be able to bring something to the sharing table). The confusing aspect of his statement was that Kaduna state has gone ahead to invite an international minning firms that will be responsible for minning it’s gold deposits and is already assembling people that will be trained in that field. This will be done in ‘conjunction’ with the federal government.

NB: The federal government OWNS the oil in the Niger-Delta and only gives the states a paltry 13% oil derivation revenue, but Kaduna’s gold will be OWNED and controlled by the state government ‘in conjunction’ with the federal government.

Clearly in Kaduna state and other northern states where illegal minning activities are currently going on, section 44 of the constitution does not apply. What a country!

The new version of the PIB seeks to deprieve host communities from getting any share from the resources their lands generate and for the devastation their communities face, while people in agbadas own the oil wells. The earlier the Niger-Delta legislators and governors wake up to the fact that they have a people to protect, the better it will be for the region and it’s future generations.
In Nigeria, it is a survival of the fittest and ONLY the strong and smart will survive! There is no equality here and not even the travelling president of this travailing nation can change that.

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Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

Enenim Ubon is on twitter @EnenimUbon‎.