The chairman and publisher of Leadership Newspaper Group, Mr Sam Nda-Isaiah, is dead.
The 58-year old he died on Friday night in Abuja after a public outing, he is believed to have died after a brief illness.
Nda-Isaiah, a former presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), 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.
Leadership Newspaper is yet to officially confirm the passing of its publisher.
Born Samuel Ndanusa Isaiah in Minna, Niger State. He attended UNA Elementary School before switching to Christ Church School, Kaduna in 1968.
He later went on to study at Federal Government College, Kaduna, from 1974 to 1979.
After graduating, he was admitted to Obafemi Awolowo University and studied pharmaceuticals.
At that time, he participated in the Kaduna State Schools Challenge, a quiz organized by the Kaduna Education Board, and won first prize.
He also enrolled in the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.
Nda-Isaiah from pharmacist to journalist
He completed a mandatory year of the National Youth Services Corps at the Ekiti General Hospital and the Ekiti State Hospital in 1984.
After he completed his NYSC, Nda-Isaiah briefly worked as a pharmacist at the Kano Specialist Hospital before moving to General Hospital, Minna.
He also worked at Pfizer Products Limited from 1985 to 1989.
His journey in journalism began as a columnist with The Daily Trust Editorial Board as a board member.
He then worked as a committee member in the Kano State Government to revive The Triumph, a Kano owned newspaper.
In 2003, he headed Muhammadu Buhari’s presidential campaign publicities.
In 2001, he founded the Leadership Newspaper Group. He wrote Nigeria: Full Disclosure: Selected Writings on Governance, Democracy and Statecraft, May 1999 – March 2004 and raised around 17 million naira to fund the group.
He had a weekly column in Daily Trust titled “Last Word and Earshot”. After that he established the Leadership Newspaper, where the column became one of the most popular in Nigeria.
