Trader arrested for naming pet dog 'Buhari'

Pet named after Buhari

A trader who named his pet dog Buhari has been arrested by the police in Ogun State and would soon be charged to court.

A 30-year-old trader based in the Sango-Ota area of Ogun State, Joe Fortemose Chinakwe, has been arrested by the State Police Command for allegedly naming his pet dogAlhaji Buhari, following a bitter feud with his neighbour who is from the Northern part of Nigeria.

Vanguard reports that Chinakwe was arrested after the neighbour made a complaint at the Sango-Ota Division that his neighbour named his dog after his father who is called Alhaji Buhari.

According to reports, efforts by the police to also 'arrest' the dog which they intended using as evidence in charging Chinakwe to court, was thwarted after the suspect directed his friends to kill the dog in order to avoid being implicated.

And for his cleverness, the trader has been transferred to State Police Command headquarters at Eleweran, Abeokuta, where he is being detained and bail has been denied, just as plans are being made to charge him to court for treason for giving his dog the same name that the president of Nigeria bears, seeing it as treasonable felony.

But relatives of Chinakwe believe their brother is just being persecuted for no just cause as he has committed no offence.

One of such relatives, Chiedozie, spoke on behalf of the family:

“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.”

Confirming Chinakwe's arrest, the State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Abimbola Oyeyemi, said:

“He didn't only name the dog Buhari, but boldly wrote Buhari on the body of both sides of the dog and was seen parading the neighbourhood dominated by Northerners with it.

We are charging him to court for conduct likely to cause a breach of peace. 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.”