Thursday, March 28, 2024

My offence in Buhari’s house – Aisha

BY TIMOTHY AGBOR

Nigeria’s First Lady, Aisha Buhari, has opened up on how she started committing offence in her husband’s house, saying it is a fallout of handling the post-traumatic stress disorder President Muhammadu Buhari suffered for many years.

According to her, her offence started the moment she had to point her husband’s attention to things he did that were wrong.

She made this known on Tuesday, while speaking as a special guest of honour at the ground-breaking ceremony for the Armed Forces Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Centre, a project of the Mrs Lucky Irabor-led Defence and Police Officers’ Wives Association.

While revealing how he suffered PTSD following Buhari’s civil war experiences, detention and electoral losses, Aisha said the first mistake she made in Buhari’s house was to tell him his mistakes.

The First Lady noted that being a soldier’s wife or a retired military officer’s wife had negative consequences, adding that she experienced some of these challenges.

She said, “At the age of 19, I had to figure out how to tell somebody of his (Buhari) 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.

“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.

“My husband served the Nigerian Army for 27 years before he was overthrown in a coup d’état. He fought 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.”

“One year after he came out from detention, we were married, I clocked 19 years in his house as his wife, legitimately. 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,” she stressed.

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