What not to name your dog
Until his arrest on Saturday, August 13, 2016, Joachim Fortmose Chinakwe, could probably have remained largely unknown to the world, except by his relations and neighbours. Today, the 41-year-old trader has shot into international headlines, albeit unknowingly.
Chinakwe was picked up following a supposed SOS call to law enforcement agents by one of his neighbours, Halilu Umar.
On that fateful day, Chinakwe strolled the streets with his pet dog unaware of what was to come. Inscribed across the body of the puppy was ‘Buhari’. Apparently, to many passersby, there was nothing to elicit any interest, but not so with Haliru.
Haliru would later inform the police that Chinakwe named his pet after his (Haliru)’s father to get back at him over a squabble they both had before then. Once the matter got to the police, Chinakwe was immediately arrested and detained at a local police station before he was transferred to Eleweran headquarters of the state Police Command. He was later arraigned before Bolaji Ojikutu of a Sango-Otta Magistrate’s Court. He was granted a bail of N50, 000 which he met courtesy of a fundraiser by a human rights activist, Inihebe Effiong.
This Chinakwe incident has thrown up a lot of dust and elicited unexpected local and international debate.
Speaking on why they arrested the trader, Ogun State Police spokesperson, Abimbola Oyeyemi, implied that Chinakwe was picked up to avert an impending calamity his action could cause him . “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.
“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,” Oyeyemi had said.
On the one hand, Chinakwe probably went too far in his conduct. It should be understood that in Islam, a dog is considered a filthy animal not to be so associated with. If his action was meant to spite Haliru as the latter claimed, and considering the Chinakwe lives in an area populated by northerners, then he could be courting trouble.
The Yoruba people probably had foreseen this when they say, ‘Eni t’o ba fe gbe Ijebu, ko ni so aja re ni Ojo’ (Any sojourner in Ijebuland must not name his dog Ojo). What this tells us is that we should not over step our bounds under the pretext of fundamental human rights. As Africans, we should respect our neighbour’s ethno-religious sentiments. Chinakwe got it all wrong writing the name on the body of the dog in the first place. After all, people give names to pets without necessarily inscribing same on their bodies. He could not feign ignorance of the import of his action.
But come to think of it, many people believe that the police’s action smacks of overzealousness or what is referred to in local parlance as ‘eye service.’ These people believe that Haliru’s case was just an alibi for the police to show their master in Abuja that they remain loyal, since the sitting President is so named.
It would be recalled that during the heat of the 2015 presidential election, a man named his black goat ‘Jonathan’ after then sitting president. No one was harassed or bandied into detention over it.
Imagine the debate already trending in the global community over the matter. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) analysed Twitter reactions to the report and noted that “Twitters users reacted to the arrest with a mixture of amusement and concern.” It then went on to quote a tweet from former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri, which queried, “If we keep quiet when they arrest the man who named his dog Buhari, who will talk for us when they arrest us for criticizing the real Buhari?”
New York Times, Reuters, Buzzfeed are among the numerous international media that have voiced their opinions on the issue and there is unanimity among them that Chinakwe erred in his action, while the Police overreacted to the situation.
Nigerians can only move in the right path if we all respect our cultures and values, and also if our law enforcement agencies eschew nepotism and ‘eye service’.
segadio@yahoo.co.uk (08138773277 SMS ONLY)
