Elijah Ode, 23-yrs-old Christian Barber Arrested for Blasphemy in Kano finally speaks

The 23-yrs-old Christian barber, Elijah Ode, who hails from Benue State has finally spoken on what led to his arrest in Kano State.

Abacityblog.com reported that Ode, who is standing trial in Kano after being accused of blasphemy, was initially arrested by the police on January 15, 2021 and later released.

The young barber who is also a student, was rearrested from his shop in the Sabon Gari area of the state on Wednesday, January 27, for giving his customers haircuts deemed blasphemous to the Islamic religion.

He was arraigned in court on Tuesday, February 2, and thereafter remanded in prison.

Revealing details of his arrest, Ode who is currently being remanded in prison had taken to Twitter on January 26th, 2021, to tell stories of how the Police came and arrested him in his shop.

He also shared photos of the alleged offending haircuts.

According to the tweets, he was arrested alongside two of his customers by police operatives from the Matro Division of the State Police Command on Friday, January 15, for giving the clients hair designs which they claimed have some similarities with some Islamic inscription.

Read his tweets below:

“My name is Elijah, I’m a barber based in Kano. I was arrested by Metro Area police command authority, Bank Road, Kano on 15th January, 2021.

“Reasons for the arrest goes thus: According to the police officers that showed up in my shop that day, in response to the allegation made against me by some members of the Islamic group in Kano, they said that they received a report that I gave two of my clients a haircut style with a design of an image which was said to have some similarities with something in Islamic religious group.

“However, they eventually arrested me, took some of my barbing tools. They also arrested the two of my clients who had the hairstyle on their heads. We were being detained till in the evening on Friday, 15th till Saturday night, 16th.

“We were being charged approximately N27,000 plus for the alleged offence. My shop was shut down for 4 days and it took 4 days as well for me to be able to get my tools back. Attached is the haircut design which they allegedly claimed is an Islamic inscription.”

A Thread:

My name is Elijah, I'm a barber based in kano.

I was being arrested by Matro Area command police authority bank road kano on 15th January 2021.

Reasons for the arrest goes thus : pic.twitter.com/Kfle5NO37G

— El’Son (@ode_elijah) January 26, 2021