Following intense pressure from several quarters, the Nigerian police today released four of the five editors of the Nation newspaper arrested on Monday in a raid at the Lagos and Abuja offices of the newspaper. The fifth editor is still being held by the police until tomorrow when he is expected to be arraigned.

The editors released today were: Lawal Ogianegbon, Dapo Olufade, Dupe Olaoye-Osinkolu, John Austin Unachukwu Esq(in-house attorney of the Nation) and the gate man, Adegbenjo Babajide. Yusuf Alli, the northern operations manager is still in detention awaiting arraignment.

Prominent Nigerian civil rights attorney, Femi Falana,told SaharaReporters from Abuja that he was shuttling between the offices of the Inspector General of Police and the Attorney General of the federation, who favored the immediate release of the journalists.

The editors were arrested over a report regarding a sensitive secret letter allegedly written by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to President Goodluck Jonathan regarding federal appointments. The letter caused embarrassment to the government. In the letter, former President Obasanjo recommended the sacking of predominantly northern directors of federal agencies and their replacement with southerners.

Nigeria's Attorney General, Mohammed Bello Adoke reportedly wrote a covering letter to the Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Ringim to cause the arrest of the journalists at TheNation.

This latest assault on the press comes as the president is facing an electorate that is restless and disappointed at the pace of progress. Observers in Abuja are concerned that this trend is a bad omen as more challenges await the nation in the months ahead.

In New York, an embarrased Nigeria's minister of foreign affairs, Olugbenga Ashiru, told reporters he was not aware of the arrest of the journalists, claiming Nigeria enjoys "freedom of press".

There is an urgent need to sanitise the Nigeria Police. The Force has long history of illegally arresting and detaining innocent Nigerians.


Why should the journalists be arrested? Is the FG Obasanjo? If Obasanjo truefully know he did not write the so called letter, let him take up the case to the court. Why should the FG fight a fight that is not their own or do they have a hidden agenda.

Nigerians are tired of all these kangaro kind of things. We are talking about unemployment and FG is allowing corrupt politicians to do away with our money. We only hear so so and so have been arrested but we Nigerians will never hear the end of the arrest. Who are you fooling? No house and many of them have unoccupied houses while the poor languish in a gutter. You think you can do without the poor? You are mistaking!

If at the end it was proved that Obj did write the letter what happened?