By OKECHUKWU PEACE
A 30-year-old Ogun State-based trader, Joe Fortemose Chinakwe has alleged threat to his life at Ibara Prisons where he is being held for controversially naming his pet dog ‘Alhaji Buhari’.
The trader was remanded after his family could not meet the bail condition handed down by an Ota Magistrates’ Court 2, sitting in the Sango-Ota area of the state, claiming he is being persecuted unjustly.
Chinakwe, also known as Joachim Iroko, in a chat with a close friend, says he has been receiving threatening and intimidating calls and text messages that he would not come out of the prison alive and is calling all Nigerians to be aware of what he is going through when he committed no crime whatsoever.
He also claimed that the man who reported him to the police and some officers had vowed to make sure he suffers for his action.
In another development, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigerian Prisons Service, Ogun State Command, Victor Oyeleke, confirmed that Chinakwe is still in the prison since he could not meet his bail demands.
“The man is still in Ibara Prison. His family members have yet to perfect his bail conditions. It is already late to do that today (Tuesday).”
Chinakwe’s travails began when a neighbour, Halilu Umar, said to be a citizen of Niger Republic, reported to the police that the accused had named his pet dog after his father, Alhaji Buhari.
Chinakwe was subsequently arrested and detained for three days before he was released and rearrested again and arraigned in the court on charges of conduct likely to cause a breach of peace where he was granted bail in the sum of N50,000, by the presiding Chief Magistrate, B. J. Ojikutu but promptly remanded in prison since he could not perfect his bail conditions, while the case has been adjourned till September 19, 2016.
