The Publisher of Leadership newspaper, Sam Nda-Isaiah, is dead. Multiple sources from his family and the newspaper organisation confirmed that he died on Friday “after a very brief illness.”
The late publisher was said to be at his duty post in Abuja on Thursday during the inaugural meeting of National Economy’s Board of Economists at the corporate head office of the media organisation.
A senior management staff of his company was said to have broken the sad news of his death on the company’s staff WhatsApp , saying “Today is a sad day for Leadership.”
An editor with the Leadership also confirmed the news, he said Nda-Isaiah did not show any sign of sickness when he appeared at the office on Thursday.
“He did not show any sign of sickness. Definitely, it was not coronavirus that killed him. Maybe it was cardiac arrest. It is indeed a sad day for us.”
He said the family and the company would issue a statement to announce the death of the former pharmacist.
On his Facebook page, Nda-Isaiah described himself as a leading pro-good governance advocate and a consistent voice on contemporary and domestic policy issues. He also described himself as “one of the most respected men in the Nigerian media.”
He was chairman of the Leadership Group and Editor-in-Chief of Leadership newspapers, a daily newspaper organisation that publishes Leadership, Leadership Weekend, Leadership Sunday, Leadership Confidential, Leadership Edge and Leadership Hausa.
Nda-Isaiah was a member of the Vienna-based International Press Institute; a member of the World Association of Newspapers, Paris, France; and a member of the Institute of Directors.
He was a member of the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria; Chairman, Oakhouse Forte Limited; Chairman, Banana Republic; Chairman, Clayfields and Harrow; Director, Empire Securities Limited; Director, Societa Generale Fondazini; Director, Maitama Amusement Park Plc; Member governing council of Kaduna International School; Chairman, Robertsham Hotel and Group Ten Ltd, Johannesburg, South Africa.
A trained pharmacist from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nda-Isaiah ventured into politics and newspaper publishing. He was also a newspaper columnist.
A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, he was one of the party’s presidential aspirants for the 2015 election. He alongside former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar; former Governor Rochas Okorocha and former Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso among others lost the APC presidential ticket to Muhammadu Buhari, who later won the election by defeating the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Goodluck Jonathan, in the 2015 election.
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