Sam Nda-Isaiah, publisher of Leadership Newspapers, is dead

Samuel Nda-Isaiah, chairman of Leadership Newspapers Group, is dead.

The graduate of pharmacy was said to have died on Friday “after a brief illness”.

Nda-Isaiah, a former presidential aspirant on the platform 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.

“Opening the ceremony, the publisher of National Economy, who doubles as the publisher of Leadership Group, Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah, said the inspiration of setting up the paper is hinged on getting Nigeria out of a well-defined economic quagmire. He described Nigeria’s lot as standing in front of a moving train, warning that something must be done fast to avert a disaster,” a report on the meeting reads.

“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.”

He was aged 58 at the time of his death.

President Muhammadu 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 condoles with the media fraternity, the Nda-Isaiah family, friends and associates of the deceased.”

The president was also quoted as 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,” Buhari added.

Meanwhile, as of the time of this report, the newspaper had not yet issued an official statement on his death.