Mr Joe Fortemose Chinakwe was released a few days ago after his imprisonment by the police.\u00a0\u00a0 His \u2018crime\u2019 was that he named his dog \u2018Buhari\u2019.\u00a0 Whereas Mr Chinakwe claims that he so acted because President Buhari, \u2018is his hero\u2019, his neighbour rather held that Mr Chinakwe\u2019s dog was named after his father, Alhaji Buhari.\u00a0 As reported by the Vanguard Newspaper, the Ogun State Police command through its public relation officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, believed that Mr Chinakwe\u2019s conduct was likely to cause a breach of peace because an average northerner would \u2018feel bad over such a thing\u2019.\u00a0 Mr Chinakwe was released, according to the same newspaper, after the intervention of both the Serkin Hausa and the President-General of non-indigenes in Ogun State.<\/p>\n
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It is clear that the conduct of the police in the above is constitutionally reprehensible.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0It is sufficient to recall section 36 (12) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria<\/em> (hereafter, 1999 Constitution).\u00a0 The section provides that there can never be a conviction for a criminal offence unless that offence is defined and the penalty prescribed in a written law.\u00a0 I do not support in any way the denigration of the person of President Buhari.\u00a0 He deserves some respect.\u00a0 But giving a dog a human name is not a known criminal offence defined in any written law in Nigeria.\u00a0 Consequently, there is no written prescribed penalty for giving a dog a human name.\u00a0 The Ogun State Police command, therefore, has \u2018enacted\u2019 the crime of giving a dog a human name.\u00a0 And by so doing it has \u2018usurped\u2019 the function of the legislature.<\/p>\n \n Furthermore, allowing the police to get away with the arrest of Mr Chinakwe on the ground of an act \u2018likely to cause a breach of peace\u2019 is to set a dangerous precedent which will clip our God-given freedom.\u00a0 This is because it will give the police a wide elasticity to decide what is an act likely to cause a breach of peace and what is not.\u00a0 For example, my choice of what I eat in a particular locality may be characterised by the police as \u2018likely to cause a breach of peace\u2019 if tabooed by many in my neighbourhood.\u00a0 Also, I may be barred by the police from practising my religion or holding a certain ideological position because it is offensive to certain people and thus \u2018likely to cause a breach of peace\u2019.\u00a0 One can reason out other examples.<\/p>\n \n Moreover, further violence is done to the above-cited section 36 (12) of the 1999 Constitution if the police is allowed to determine what constitutes an act \u2018likely to cause a breach of peace\u2019 \u2013 no matter the statutory instrument they intend to rely upon.\u00a0 Such an allowance confers on the police what they are not capable of doing: exercising legislative function.\u00a0 Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution clearly states that legislative powers are ordinarily vested in the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly.\u00a0 It is therefore unconstitutional for the police to determine what is \u2018likely to cause a breach of peace\u2019.\u00a0 Only the National Assembly or a state House of Assembly possesses such power.<\/p>\n \n Since the Ogun State Police Command constitutionally goofed when they arrested Mr Chinakwe, such an arrest can constitute false imprisonment.\u00a0 The tort of false imprisonment, according to Augie, J. C. A in Clifford Okeke v Lucy Igboeri<\/em> (2010) LPELR-4712(CA) \u2018is the restraining or detaining of a person, if the person doing or causing the imprisonment has no right in law to imprison that other\u2019.\u00a0 The police have no right in law to imprison the other who decides to give his\/her dog a human name.\u00a0 To do otherwise is to engage in the tort of false imprisonment.\u00a0 And the victim so trespassed is entitled to sue the police for damages.<\/p>\n \n The police might invoke some defence by claiming that they did not set the law in motion against Mr Chinakwe.\u00a0 The Vanguard Newspaper reported that Mr Chinakwe was arrested by the police based on a complaint by his neighbour.\u00a0 Nzeako, J. C. A had reasoned in Afribank Nigeria PLC v Sylvester Onyima & Anor<\/em> (2003) LPELR-5207(CA) that \u2018one of the well known principles is that in order to succeed in an action for false imprisonment, the plaintiff must show that it was the defendant who was actively instrumental in setting the law in motion against him\u2019.\u00a0 But as seen in the above-cited Court of Appeal case and a plethora of other cases, the law is set in motion against the plaintiff only when the police is acting on a report relating to a criminal offence.\u00a0 And there is a criminal offence only when there is a violation of a law.\u00a0 And a law is constitutionally a law only when it emanates from the National Assembly or a state House of Assembly.\u00a0 Thus, the police has a herculean task of showing that they acted on a report relating to a criminal offence which here appears non existent.<\/p>\n \n Seeking some remedy in court like damages whenever the police runs foul of the tort of false imprisonment will help in reducing the level of police highhandedness.\u00a0 It is true that such a court action compensates for misconduct, but it also transcends pecuniary gain.\u00a0 It will go a long way in protecting our freedom and the common man.\u00a0 I wonder whether Mr Chinakwe would have been incarcerated if he belonged to certain political\/social class.<\/p>\n \n Somadina Ibe-Ojiludu, OFM Cap, is a Capuchin Franciscan Friar and a post graduate law student.<\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mr Joe Fortemose Chinakwe was released a few days ago after his imprisonment by the police.\u00a0\u00a0 His \u2018crime\u2019 was that he named his dog \u2018Buhari\u2019.\u00a0 Whereas Mr Chinakwe claims that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n