I was fifteen years old when the civil war broke
out in Nigeria. Although we were living in Ibadan
in the South-west at the time, my sympathies
were totally and unequivocally with the Igbos.
When a people have been so brutally butchered
by their countrymen as happened to the Igbos, I
felt they had no choice but to insist on leaving
the country. Therefore, I understood why the
Biafrans went to war and what they were fighting
for. But I could not, for the life of me, understand
what those on the federal side were fighting for.
Why would anybody fight for Nigeria?
I lost a first-cousin fighting on the federal side
during the civil war. I wish I could have found
out first-hand from him why he gave his life “to
keep Nigeria one.” Did he really believe in
Nigeria? I doubt it. Why then did he join the
army after the war broke out and die in the war?
What about those who fought and did not die?
What was in Nigeria for them? How did Nigeria
justify their sacrifice of blood and gore after the
war?
Fighting for Nigeria
The question is still pertinent today as we
mobilize to fight the scourge of the Boko Haram.
Why would anybody fight for Nigeria? What is in
Nigeria for us? There is a difference between
joining an army for career purposes and believing
in Nigeria. There is a difference between joining
the Nigerian army because you need a job and
dying for Nigeria. There is a difference between
going to war and getting killed and dying for
Nigeria. For a man to die for Nigeria, he has to
believe in Nigeria. For a man to believe in
Nigeria, Nigeria has to mean something for him.
Nigeria must have something to offer him.
John Kennedy said: “Ask not what your country
can do for you, ask what you can do for your
country.” That is all well and good; provided we
have fulfilled the first requirement which is to
identify our country. Most Nigerians have yet to
do this. We are Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba and every
other possible abridgement or classification but
not Nigerians. We are Christians and Muslims
but not yet Nigerians. Even after 54 years of
Nigerian independence, and after 100 years of
Nigerian amalgamation, most Nigerians still do
not really consider themselves to be Nigerians.
We can acknowledge the assistance of the
Americans, the British, the French and others.
But the truth of the matter is that only a Nigerian
can fight for Nigeria against the Boko Haram.
Only a Nigerian can have the necessary
commitment to endanger his life in fighting
against the insurgents. However, there are few
Nigerians in Nigeria. As a matter of fact, most
Nigerians are Boko Haram in one fashion or the
other.
Nigerian foreigners
I was upset when I read about a Nigerian who
died fighting in the U.S. Army in Iraq. He not
only became an American, he fought and died for
America. Every year, thousands of Nigerians play
the American lottery, hoping to relinquish Nigerian
nationality. Every week, thousands mass at
European, American and other embassies, hoping
to travel out of Nigeria for good. I even met a
Nigerian barber in poor Gambia and wondered
what he was doing there. What was he doing in
Gambia when there are better business
opportunities for him in Nigeria; unless anywhere
else is better than home?
The Lamido of Adamawa threatened that if things
don’t work out in Nigeria, he would simply pack
his bags and move to Cameroon. It would
appear then that the Lamido is actually a
Cameroonian living in Nigeria. Most countries go
to war to secure more territories for themselves.
The Russians recently used the opportunity of a
little crisis in Ukraine go annex the Crimea.
However, Obasanjo gave away a big chunk of
Nigeria’s Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon. It did
not matter to him that the people of Bakassi are
Nigerians and not Cameroonians. While we are
shouting “Bring Back Our Girls” today, we forgot
to ask Obasanjo to bring back our Bakassi
Nigerians yesterday.
Hatred of Nigeria
So many theories have been adduced as to why
the Boko Haram prevail in Nigeria. Some
attribute this to the acute poverty in the Nigerian
North-east. However, there are countries in the
world far poorer than Nigeria, and they don’t have
their own versions of the Boko Haram. There are
countries with greater income disparities than
Nigeria, and they don’t produce the Boko Haram.
No matter how poor are the states of the North-
east, they are not poorer than the adjoining
countries of Niger, Chad and Cameroon. And yet,
there is no Boko Haram in these poorer countries.
There is also nothing really Muslim about the
Boko Haram. Other Muslim countries in Africa
and beyond don’t have Boko Haram. When the
Boko Haram plant bombs in market-places; the
bombs are not programmed to differentiate
between Christians and Muslims. Recently, the
Boko Haram attacked some Emirs, killing one of
them. Surely, the Emirs were not Christians but
Muslims.
In effect, the Boko Haram is a wonderfully
Nigerian phenomenon. There is something in
Nigeria that provides a fertile ground for the Boko
Haram. That thing is not limited to the North-
east. That thing bedevils the whole of Nigeria.
That thing is lack of national identity. That thing
is hatred for Nigeria and for other Nigerians. The
hatred of Nigeria by Nigerians is so deep and
ingrained in us North and South; East and West.
We are Nigerians, but we hate Nigeria. We are
Nigerians, but we see nothing good in Nigeria.
We are Nigerians, but we would rather be
something else. If push comes to shove, we
would have no qualms picking up a gun and
killing another Nigerian in the name of whatever
other allegiance we hold dearer.
Battle for independence
Because there are actually very few Nigerians in
Nigeria, it is difficult to fight against the Boko
Haram. To fight against the Boko Haram is to
fight against ourselves. Every Nigerian is either a
Boko Haram or a potential Boko Haram. A Boko
Haram is a Boko Haram because he does not
believe in Nigeria. The rest of us are Boko Haram
because we also do not believe in Nigeria. We
hate Nigeria with a passion. Murtala Nyako can
fight for his citizens of the North. Femi Fani-
Kayode will readily call his Oduduwa Republic to
arms. MASSOB will easily rally the troops for
Biafra. But there is practically no one left to fight
for and defend Nigeria.
Only Nigerians can fight the Boko Haram, but
there are few Nigerians in Nigeria. That is why it
has been difficult for us to close ranks in the face
of the Boko Haram onslaught. That is why it is
easy for the Boko Haram to get new local recruits
in the fight against Nigeria. That is also why it is
difficult to identify the Boko Haram among us.
The Boko Haram and the potential Boko Haramite
is anyone and everyone who hates Nigeria and
does not wish Nigeria well. That means the Boko
Haram are practically every one of us.
The fight against Boko Haram is a belated fight
for Nigeria’s independence. In order to fight the
Boko Haram successfully, we have to become
Nigerians. Other countries fought for their
independence but we never did in Nigeria.
Suddenly, we are now saying “Bring back Our
Girls.” But these Chibok girls were not “Our Girls”
before they were kidnapped. And even if, by the
grace of God, we were to secure their release
tomorrow; they would immediately cease to be
“Our Girls.” This makes us no different from the
Boko Haram. The Boko Haram kidnapped these
girls because they are not theirs. Neither do we
consider them to be ours. They cannot be ours
as long as we do not believe we are all
Nigerians. Therefore, all our “bring back Our
Girls” posturing is just for show.
Nigerian Boko Haram
Nigerians only become Nigerians in the rarefied
context of a national football match of short
duration. But even while we are united in
supporting the Super Eagles, we equally support
Arsenal and Chelsea football clubs in England.
There was no report of any Spaniard dying as a
result of the recent Champion League football
match between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
Nevertheless, two Nigerian supporters of Real
Madrid died out of anxiety arising from the
match. Because we are Boko Haram, we even kill
ourselves over matters that don’t pertain directly
to us. I am still waiting for the day that I go to
London and find Britons wearing T-shirts with
Enugu Rangers or Kano Pillars football clubs
emblazoned on them.
Because we are not Nigerians, we readily adopt
foreign “nations” that don’t recognize us and call
them our own. Because we don’t believe in
Nigeria, we are easily seduced to take on other
“nationalities.” Because we are don’t believe in
Nigeria, we can easily be led to believe in another
“nation.” We are easily persuaded to become
Boko Haram. Because we hate Nigeria, we
become Boko Haram instead of Nigerians. We
plant bombs in the market-place. We bring
Nigeria down instead of building Nigeria up.
Since the children of Chibok are not our children,
we steal the money meant for enhancing their
education and use it to send our children to
school abroad.
The Boko Haram is not only the man who blows
up buildings and kills the innocent. The Boko
Haram is also that man who ensures that fake
drugs are sold in our pharmacies, and that our
hospitals are places where people go to die and
not to be healed. The Boko Haram is not only
that man who says “Western education is a sin.”
The Boko Haram is also that public official who
sits while our universities are closed down for six
months over an industrial dispute. The Chibok
incident has brought all these tendencies into
sharp relief. We are the Boko Haram and the
Boko Haram are us.

I cudnt read everything, but i'm sure u want knw why anyone wld want to die for Nigeria. God making me a Nigerian is enough reason to make me die for Nigeria.
In your own conclusion, it is about taking from Nigeria and not giving to Nigeria without expecting anything in return.
Nigeria is worth dying for and, i cant wait to be at the frontline for Nigeria in her war against boko haram.