A soldier, Lance Corporal Nwobodo Chinoso’s heinous acts, killing three of his colleagues, including a Commander, Lt. Sam Oladapo, and himself has been put down to post traumatic stress disorder.
Chinoso on Sunday at the accommodation centre of the Forward Operating Base in Rabah, Sokoto State turned the gun on Lt. Sam Oladapo, the FOB, Rabah Command, Sergeant Major Iliyasu Inusa, and another private soldier, Attahiru Mohammed (pictured above), and killed them all.
On completion of that bloody exercise, he aimed at himself and killed himself too.
It was a minor argument that didn’t merit such level of anger that would warrant him to go on a killing spree, report in general circulation said.
“But what happened could not be unconnected to the issue of post-traumatic stress disorder because it was just a little argument between him and the CSM. His commander and another person tried to intervene. He pulled out his rifle and shot them and himself,” an unnamed military source told Punchng.
Post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, otherwise known as battle fatigue, is a disorder characterised by failure to recover after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event.
The condition may last months or years, with triggers that can bring back memories of the trauma accompanied by intense emotional and physical reactions.
First Lady, Aisha Buhari at the Armed Forces Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Centre (AFPTSDC) initiated by the Mrs Lucky Irabor-led Defence and Police Officers’ Wives Association (DEPOWA), told the story of how President Muhammadu Buhari suffered the ailment, and how she bore the consequences of being a sufferer’s spouse.
According to her, “PTSD is a mental health condition triggered by terrifying events. 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.
“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.”