THE intervention of President Goodluck Jonathan, on Thursday, ensured the release of the Managing Editor, Northern Operations of The Nation newspapers, Alhaji Yusuf Ali.Ali, who was arrested alongside the Abuja Bureau Chief of the newspaper, Mr Yomi Odunuga on Tuesday was further detained on Wednesay when the police ordered the release of Odunuga and the News Editor, who was arrested in Lagos and flown to Abuja.Ali was released from police custody after a short visit to the Force Headquarters, where the Inspector General of Police, Mr Hafiz Ringim, confirmed the presidential directive to release the journalist.It was gathered that a number of media heavyweights, including Senator Smart Adeyemi, had mounted pressure on the government and intimated it of how unkind it would be to see a democratic government move against the media.Ali, who was released at about 1.30 p.m. told newsmen that his release was a testimony to the intervention of many well-meaning Nigerians.He said that the swoop on his company's offices in Lagos and Abuja was deplorable but that he was grateful to all those who made his release possible.The national president of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mallam Mohammed Garba, said the release of the journalist was a good signal that presupposed that the media was being seen as partners in the democratic process.Ali was earlier in the day taken to the Force Headquarters from the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Area 10, Abuja, where he had been detained since Tuesday.The police had saidhe was going to be charged to a magistrates' court.Two lawyers, Mr Femi Falana and Abuja-based lawyer, Mr Ugochukwu Osuagwu, were waiting to take Ali's bail applications, but, on arrival at the Force Headquarters, the situation changed, as both the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke and the IGP confirmed presidential orders to release the journalist.It was also confirmed that Adoke had visited Ali's detention camp on Wednesday night and also impressed it on the IG to leave the editor off the hook.Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Hafiz Ringim, has insisted that the arrest of editors of The Nation newspapers did not amount to intimidation of the press, saying that the action was normal in the course of the statutory duties of the police.This is coming as the presidency has distanced itself from the travails of the editors or the newspapers, as it maintained that the action of the police was constitutional.According to Ringim, who was fielding questions from State House correspondents, there was no such issue as intimidation as the police were only performing their constitutional duties of law enforcement.In a statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, Olushola Amore, Ringim said due to the perceived public interest in the matter, members of the public would be briefed from time to time on the investigation.Meanwhile, a top presidency source has distanced President Goodluck Jonathan from the arrest of The Nation newspapers' editors, following speculations that President Jonathan might have ordered the action.
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