Nigeria’s first lady, Aisha has said she endured several years living with President Muhammadu Buhari, while he battled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following his civil war experience, detention and several electoral failures to become Nigeria's democratic president.
First Lady she married Buhari one year after he came out from detention, when she was barely 19 years old.
“I suffered the consequences of PTSD because having gone through all these, and at the age of 19, to handle somebody who was a former head of state and commander-in-chief of Nigeria’s Armed Forces, to tell him that he is wrong is the first mistake you will make,” Mrs Buhari disclosed.
Aisha Buhari revealed this on Tuesday while speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Armed Forces Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Centre (AFPTSDC).
She said the establishment of the centre is timely to provide facilities for the treatment and rehabilitation of men of the Armed Forces who are faced with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, as she recounted her experience in handling President Muhammadu Buhari, who suffered such in the past.
She stressed that “fundraising is not the solution. The solution is for the federal government that sent them to the war front to take responsibility for taking care of the mental health of returnees from the war front. PTSD cuts across all ages.”
“My husband served the Nigerian Army for 27 years before he was overthrown in a coup d’état. He fought the civil war for 30 months without rehabilitation; he ruled Nigeria for 20 months and was detained for 40 months without disclosing the nature of his offence,” Mrs Buhari stressed. “You can imagine myself at 19 years, handling somebody that went to war, suffered (a) coup d’état, then lost several elections, and, finally, getting to the Villa in 2015.”
President Muhammadu Buhari had, on several occasions, recounted his role during the Nigerian civil war, and narrated how he and his colleagues in the Nigerian Army killed hundreds of thousands of Nigerians on the Biafran side during the war.
The first lady commended DEPOWA for “this foresighted vision” of establishing the PTSD centre for the soldiers
The First Lady stated how difficult it is for the families of the soldiers, either serving or retired, to handle the consequences of PTSD.
“It is a reality that soldiers and military families have to live with, despite its negative consequences. Being a soldier’s wife or a retired soldier’s wife and a wellness expert, I understand the challenges associated with PTSD and its impact on military families and the nation.”
She revealed that the Nigerian Army did not rehabilitate Buhari after his retirement from the military but was left alone to bear the mental and physical trauma.
“So, at the age of 19, I had to figure out how to tell somebody of his calibre that he was wrong or right, and that was the beginning of my offence in his house, and contesting elections in 2003 and failed, 2007, failed and 2011, the same thing – all without rehabilitation – I became a physiotherapist,” Aisha Buhari add.
PTSD is a mental health condition caused by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Some of the symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety, and uncontrollable thoughts about the event.