I was jailed with ‘hardened criminals’ for naming my dog ‘Buhari’, says trader

Joachim Chinakwe Iroko, a trader who was recently arrested for naming his pet dog “Buhari”, has revealed that the police placed him in a jail inhabited by “hardened criminals”.

Following his arrest on Saturday, he was taken to the Sango-Ota division and was subsequently transferred to Police headquarters at Eleweran.

The Ogun-based trader who was released on Tuesday after the intervention of key individuals in the community, says he never knew there was harm in naming his dog after the president, whom he truly admires.

Chinakwe told Vanguard that he was annoyed to learn that the complainant – who reported him to the police – is not a Nigerian.

“It is annoying because the complainant is from Niger Republic and I am sure he is one of those illegal aliens in this country. He connived with one Police Sergeant from the Northern part of Nigeria called Musa, who works at Sango Police division to humiliate me.

“Worse still, the Divisional Police Officer there, did not help matters as he refused to entertain any plea from me after I was arrested that Saturday night. He simply ordered his men to throw me into the cell.”

He maintained that President Buhari is his “hero”, hence the decision to name his dog after him.

“I did not commit any offence. I named my beloved pet dog Buhari, who is my hero. My admiration for Buhari started far back when he was a military Head of State. It continued till date that he is a civilian President.

“After reading his dogged fight against corruption, which is like a canker worm eating into the very existence of this country, I solely decided to rename my beloved dog which I called Buhari, after him. I did not know that I was committing an offence for admiring Buhari.

According to the trader, the treatment meted to him for committing no crime was inhumane and undeserved.

“I was intimidated and thrown inside the cell with hardened criminals for about three days. While I was there, the complainant from Niger Republic and Sergeant Musa from the North kept on taunting me saying people from my part of the country are trouble makers and that after detaining me, they will throw me into prison where I will die unsung.

“Even when my wife came with our baby on her back, they stopped her from giving me food. One of my friends that came to see me was also maltreated.

“While taking me to Eleweran the next day, they handcuffed and chained me together with that my friend. Fortunately, when we got to police headquarters, both the Commissioner of Police and other officers were angry with their colleagues at Sango-Ota.

“They were wondering loudly why I was brought to the headquarters over such a minor case. It’s very unfortunate that I have to be so humiliated in my own country because of the antics of a foreigner in connivance with my brother from the North.”