The man who named his dog Buhari rearrested and to appear in court

The man who named his dog buhari.The Ogun State Police Command has rearrested Joe Chinakwe, the man who named his pet dog Buhari.He would be arraigned in court on Monday.The interesting thing about this case is this.Was this man arrested for naming his dog Buhari which so happens to be the name of the Nigerian President or are we to believe he is only being arrested because the other Buhari who is a civilian made a complaint?I leave you to answer that question yourself..Meanwhile,continuing with the story...

According to the state’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Abimbola Oyeyemi, Chinakwe, who was earlier released a few days ago, was picked up again based on the belief that the suspect’s action was capable of provoking an ethnic religious crisis. He said,

“The man is here with us. He is at the Criminal Investigation Department. The charge will be prepared here and he will be arraigned at Sango Magistrate Court on Monday.

He is going to court on Monday because what he did was highly provocative. It can cause an ethnic and religious crisis. We have to be proactive, we cannot fold our arms and allow the state to be plunged into crisis. In fact, the arrest was made to save the suspect’s life because the complainant and his group have threatened to kill him if he comes back and this may trigger violence.”

The 30-year-old trader named Joe Fortemose Chinakwe, was earlier arrested by the Ogun state police command for naming his pet dog ‘Buhari'. This was after after one of his neighbours, a man from Northern Nigeria, filed a complaint that Joe named his dog after his father, Alhaji Buhari. According to Vanguard, after the complaint was made at Sango Police Station, the trader was arrested, detained and would reportedly be arraigned in court today.


Efforts by the police to recover the dog, which they intended using as evidence failed. The trader, allegedly instructed his friends to secretly to kill the dog. Now, appeals by his friends and relations for the police to grant him bail failed as the complainant and his kinsmen reportedly threatened to kill the trader if he was released on bail.

A relation to the suspect expressed fears that he may either be poisoned inside a police cell or thrown into jail. According to the person, “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.”

The acting Police spokesman in Ogun State, Abimbola Oyeyemi, ASP, stated that indeed Joe bought a dog, but he inscribed Buhari on both sides of the dog's body and paraded the dog around the area."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.”