The publisher of Leadership newspaper, Sam Nda-Isaiah, is dead. Sources confirm that he died after a very brief illness. He was aged 58. Born on
The publisher of Leadership newspaper, Sam Nda-Isaiah, is dead.
Sources confirm that he died after a very brief illness. He was aged 58.
Born on May 1, 1962, Sam Nda-Isiah was a trained pharmacist, a politician, a newspaper publisher and a businessman.
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 ticket to President Muhammadu Buhari who later won the election by beating the then incumbent, Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Nda-Isaiah was said to have attended the inaugural meeting of the board of economists of the National Economy, another of his publications on Thursday in Abuja where he described Nigeria’s lot as standing in front of a moving train, warning that something must be done fast to avert a disaster.
At the meeting, he also sounded a stern warning that if Nigeria does not prepare well and fast before the start of the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), the country may stand to lose massively, its economic fortunes to smaller but more prepared neighbours.
Buhari, in a statement issued on Saturday by Femi Adesina, his spokesman, described him as a friend and an ally that will be sorely missed.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed shock and sadness at the death of Publisher of Leadership Newspapers, Sam Nda-Isaiah, a man he describes as ‘a friend and ally,’” the statement reads.
The president was also quoted as saying, “the country has lost a man of conviction, a resolute and dogged believer in a better Nigeria.
Meanwhile, neither his publishing group or his family has issued an official statement on his death.
