By OKECHUKWU PEACE
For naming his dog ‘Buhari,’ a trader Joe Fortemose Chinakwe has been arrested by the police in Sango-Ota, Ogun State.
He was reported by his one of his neighbours at No 10, Omikunle Street, Sango-Ota, a Northerner reported at the police station accusing Chinakwe of naming his dog after his father, Alhaji Buhari.
According to The Vanguard, it was gathered that police could not find the said dog as the trader had allegedly directed his friends secretly to kill the dog and possibly eat the meat so that it would be impossible to be traced.
It was also gathered that consistent appeals by his friends and relations for the police to grant him bail failed this may be because the accused’s Northern neighbour and his kinsmen had reportedly threatened to kill the trader if he was released on bail.
Things took a twist two days later when Chinakwe’s relatives went to Sango police station to again appeal to the police for his bail and they were informed that the case file and the suspect have been transferred to Ogun State Police Command headquarters at Eleweran.
The Vanguard reports that this alarmed the trader’s relatives who expressed fears that he may either be poisoned inside police cell or thrown into jail.
One of them 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.”
Speaking on the matter, the acting Police spokesman in Ogun State, Abimbola Oyeyemi, ASP, said: “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.
“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.”
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