Mr. Joachim Chinakwe, the 41-year-old trader arrested and detained at the Sango Ota Police Station, Ogun State, on August 13, 2016, for naming his dog Buhari, has said his life is no longer safe.
Speaking with Punch on Friday minutes before he was again locked behind bars at the State Police Headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta, the capital, after initially being released last Tuesday, the father of one who hails from Delta State, said he feared for his life because he does not know what could happen to him next.
“I had to leave for Eleweran very early on Friday after receiving a letter on Thursday evening inviting me to the Command. I thought I was being called over for a peace talk, I never knew it was for the purpose of detaining me again.
“I am a law-abiding citizen of this country, I have never deliberately committed any offence before, I don’t know why I am being treated like this. I only called the dog that name for the love I have for President Muhammadu Buhari and Nigeria, I didn’t mean to taunt or hurt anybody with it. I don’t know what next could follow this, I am afraid for my life, I am in danger, please help me,” Chinakwe said before the telephone line went off.
The latest twist to the matter has caused relatives and friends who have been running round to free the trader serious distress. His 26-year-old wife, Ifeoma, and 18-month-old daughter, Temi, has also been badly affected by the situation.
Looking frail and barely able to support her body weight, the woman whined in pain as she made her way from the bathroom at the back of the small compound into one of the two small rooms she and her family shares. With eyes still swollen from days of crying and her bulging stomach putting an extra burden on her shoulders and weak legs, it is one of the most agonising periods in the life of the young mother who is almost due for the delivery of her second child. Since her husband was first arrested on the orders of one Kalilu, a public toilet operator in their Omikunle neighbourhood who accused him of deliberately naming his dog Buhari, after his father just to taunt him and members of the Hausa community, life has not been the same for the woman.
According to the woman the latest development has affected her health and that of Temi terribly. Apart from now struggling to survive without their breadwinner and ‘protector’, Ifeoma says the two of them have been on medication since her husband’s travails began.
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