See Reasons why Police Rearrested Igbo Trader who named Dog Buhari

The Ogun state Police command on Friday, announced that it had re-arrested a trader, Joe Chinakwe, who recently got in the news for naming his pet dog Buhari.

The state command of the Nigerian police force also stated that Chinakwe would be arraigned in court on Monday.

Chinakwe was initially arrested last Saturday after one of his neighbours complained that he named the dog after his father, Alhaji Buhari.

Abimbola Oyeyemi, the State’s Police spokesperson stated that 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 ethno-religious crisis.

Oyeyemi however failed to mention if the police obtained a warrant from any court for the trader’s second arrest as should have been done.

Vanguard reports that Chinakwe’s initial release was made possible through the intervention of the Serkin Hausa and President-General of non-indigenes in the state.

The intervention of the elders made the complainant, who was later discovered to be a Nigerien, to withdraw the case at the Sango-Ota division.

The 30-year-old trader and the complainant who reported him for naming his pet dog Buhari were also made to sign an undertaking not to cause any breach of peace.

Chinakwe’s re-arrest raises many questions about the legality of the action of the Ogun state police command as well as its propriety in the context of surrounding circumstances.

While the police claims he was rearrested to prevent an ethno-religious crisis, it failed to state any steps it had taken to ensure the preservation of law and order in the area. The police spokesperson also failed to mention any plans to investigate threats made against Chinakwe’s life.

“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,” Oyeyemi had said.

It is yet unclear how the police intends to prove its case as it has also failed to recover the dog purportedly named ‘Buhari.’

Its claim that the trader was arrested to keep him safe is surely not one that may stand to good reason in court as the duty of the police to protect lives and property is not a valid ground for arrest.

In the light of the agreement reached between the complainant and the trader, to maintain the peace, as facilitated by the community elders, claims by the police of a possible ethnoreligious crisis also appear far-fetched.