A 30-year-old Igbo trader has been arrested by the police in Ogun State
for naming his pet dog ‘Buhari’.
The trader, Joe Fortemose Chinakwe, of No 10, Omikunle Street, Sango-Ota,
was reportedly arrested last weekend.
One of his neighbours of Northern extraction had complained bitterly that
he named his dog after his father, Alhaji Buhari.
It was learned that the complainant reported the case at Sango Police
Station, last Saturday, after which the trader was arrested and detained.
However, it was gathered that efforts by the police to recover the dog,
which they intended using as evidence, failed following a clever move by
the suspect.
The trader had allegedly directed his friends secretly to kill the dog and
possibly eat the meat in order to avoid implications.
It was gathered that consistent appeals by his friends and relations for
the police to grant him bail failed.
That was because the complainant and his kinsmen reportedly threatened to
kill the trader if he was released on bail.
The case, however, took a different dimension two days later when
Chinakwe’s relatives went to Sango Police Station to further plead for his
bail.
They were informed that the case file and the suspect have been
transferred to Ogun State Police Command Headquarters at Eleweran.
A relation to the suspect, who simply identified himself as Chiedozie,
told Vanguard that his brother was being persecuted for no just cause.
He expressed fears that he may either be poisoned inside police cell or
thrown into jail.
Chiedozie said: “Chinakwe is a lover of dogs and he names them after
things that tickle him.
“He bought this dog a year ago and named it Buhari.
“Unfortunately, some Northerners, who dominate the vicinity where he
resides misconstrued his intention and connived to take him up.
“The complainant then claimed it was derogatory because his father answers
Buhari.”
Police sources, however, told Vanguard that the actions of the suspect
“were very provocative.”
One of the sources said: “He not only named the dog Buhari but boldly
wrote it on the body of both sides of the dog and was seen parading the
neighbourhood dominated by Northerners with it.”
As at press time, relations to the suspect were still making frantic
efforts to effect his bail while his accusers insist that he must be
prosecuted.
When contacted around 8pm yesterday, the acting Police Spokesman in Ogun
State, Abimbola Oyeyemi, ASP, said he was still trying to get the
Divisional Police Officer in-charge of Sango for details.
Oyeyemi later called, stating: “I have made enquiries. The man bought a
dog and inscribed Buhari on both sides of its body.
“One Mallam lodged a complaint and when our men got there, we found out
that it was true.
“You know such thing can cause serious breach of the peace and ethnic or
religious unrest.
“We are charging him to court for conduct likely to cause a breach of peace.”
Continuing, he said: “He was arrested last Saturday and we are taking him
to court later today (Tuesday) or tomorrow morning (today).
“You know an average Northerner will feel bad over such a thing.
“It can cause serious ethnic crisis or religious confrontation because
when you are relegating such a name to a certain person, you are
indirectly insulting him.”
When asked about the whereabouts of the dog that will be used as evidence
against the suspect, the police spokesman said:
“The dog cannot follow anybody except the owner. We will use him as our
evidence because he did not deny it.”