Buhari in Shock as Leadership Publisher Sam Nda Isaiah Dies

By Dipo Olowookere

The publisher of Leadership Newspaper, a national print platform in Nigeria, Mr Sam Nda Isaiah, has died. He was said to have died on Friday night after a brief illness.

The late 58-year-old Kano State-born columnist and pharmacist established Leadership Newspaper Group in 2001, which later because popular.

In 2015 Mr Nda-Isaiah ran for presidency with All Progressives Congress (APC) after suspending his columnist ambition, but he lost in the primaries to President Muhammadu Buhari, who he headed his presidential campaign publicities in 2003.

Mr Buhari, who has reacted to the death of his “friend and ally”, expressed shock over the news, saying the country and the media world have lost a good man.

“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 President condoles with the media fraternity, the Nda-Isaiah family, friends and associates of the deceased, saying the country has lost a man of conviction, a resolute and dogged believer in a better Nigeria.

“He will be sorely missed. This is a massive fish gone out of the media ocean,” a statement from the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, said.