Barr First Baba Isa, Chinakwe & dog named Buhari
Efio-Ita Nyok, 26 August 2016.
Mr. Joe Chinakwe, a Nigerian trader was arrested by the Police for naming his pet Buhari. See what First Baba Isa, a Nigerian lawyer with maternal ties to Cross River is saying about this. However, among other things, FBI has said, 'I will rebuke his folly. And I will fight for his right with the last drop of my blood'. Excerpt:
*RE: THE CASE OF THE MAN WHO NAMED HIS DOG BUHARI
I have been invited to join a team of lawyers to defend the man who was arrested, arraigned and remanded in prison custody for naming his dog Buhari.
I have accepted to join the team of lawyers subject to my ability to raise the necessary logistics (since it is a pro bono engagement). However, I will like to share a bit of my thoughts on the issue here.
Kenneth Ikonne wrote: "The way our legal system was designed to function is that if a man named his dog BUHARI, inscribed the name on the dog's body and took it on a stroll through a Muslim neighborhood in Abeokuta, and in consequence got the beating of his life, the offended muslim who beat him black and blue could then set up the defence of PROVOCATION, and the defence could succeed and excuse the beating!
But the defence would not automatically succeed just because it was set up. The defence would have to show that A REASONABLE MUSLIM, living in cosmopolitan Abeokuta, in the 21st century, would have felt so outraged at such a mere parody, as to physically assault and batter the dogman!
There is no offence in our criminal laws known as "naming a dog Buhari", or giving a dog a human name. As a matter of fact, dogs have historically borne human names! Grave violence is done to libertarian democracy and freedom of expression when an act which is not otherwise unlawful is unduly strained and criminalized on orders from above!
Just last week, the world witnessed the unveiling of naked effigies of both Hillary Clinton and of Donald Trump. Imagine the pedestrian absurdity of the American legal system subjecting the sculptors to trial for "actions likely to cause a breach of the
peace"!
The intendment of our Constitution was to entrench a liberal democracy in which fundamental rights would flourish, including that of free speech; the
intendment was never an autocracy or theocracy in which basic freedoms are truncated whimsically. The freedom of expression is not exercised only when citizens chant "Sai Buhari!" Free expression can also take an irreverent hue, and find expression in the body of a dog!
The Abeokuta dog man may have been stupid or irreverent, but he is not by any stretch of the imagination a criminal. Twisting the law of crime to deny a citizen the right of free expression is the worst form of intolerance and tyranny."
I don't agree totally with Kenneth but I quoted him extensively because his piece contained all the truths and falsehood that this case has thrown up.
First, President Buhari is not the complainant. If he were, I would still have gladly accepted to defend the accused person. But it will be against my principles to proceed on speculations I can't prove. The complainant is a Nigerien whose father is also called Buhari.
So to conclude that "our" client is being prosecuted by orders from President Buhari is a conjecture of very fertile imaginations. This conjecture might turn out to be prophetic. When that happens, I will declare it. But the facts as revealed by the court processes shows clearly that the President is not involved in the matter.
What the man did might not be wise. And now, being one of his lawyers, I will have the chance to tell him so. But what he did was not illegal.
However, since the machineries of the law have been activated to punish a man who did something "foolish" but not illegal, we the people, trained in the application and manipulation of these legal machineries cannot just stand by and do nothing.
I agree that there is a thin line between morality and legality but the line must be adored. Until a certain moral act is ordained into the ministry of law, it remains in the corridor of morality. And the tools and apparatuses of law should never be used to enforce morality. That will be akin to raping logic and expecting it to moan instead of cry!
I will rebuke his folly. And I will fight for his right with the last drop of my blood.
First Baba Isa (FBI)
Is a Legal Practitioner and writes from Abuja.
@firstbabaisa
meandisa@gmail.com
07037162029
