Gbenro Adesina
President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed shock and sadness over the death of Publisher of Leadership Newspapers, Sam Nda-Isaiah, a man he describes as “a friend and ally”.
According to a release by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, 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”.
President Buhari further said of the pharmacist, renowned columnist, and one time presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), “He will be sorely missed. This is a massive fish gone out of the media ocean”.
Sam Nda-Isaiah, 58, passed on at about 10.00pm on Friday, December 11, 2020 after complaining of feeling unwell earlier in the day.
Nda-Isaiah was born in Minna, capital of Niger State on May 1, 1962. He attended the UNA Elementary School before switching over to the Christ Church School, Kaduna in 1968 to complete his primary school education.
He attended the Federal Government College, Kaduna, from 1974 to 1979. He later studied Pharmacy at the Obafemi Awolowo University and did his National Youth Service Corps programme at the Ekiti State General Hospital in 1984.
Nda-Isaiah began his working career as a pharmacist at the Kano Specialist Hospital before he moved to the General Hospital, Minna. He worked at Pfizer Products Limited from 1985 to 1989.
Though a pharmacist, he made his mark as a newspaperman, with three dailies, including the flagship and Nigeria’s most influential newspaper, LEADERSHIP.
He was also a serial entrepreneur with a portfolio of thriving businesses and a founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on whose platform he contested for presidential ticket in 2014.
Nda-Isaiah, a bridge-builder and champion of Big Ideas, a number of which he vigorously canvassed, also held the traditional title of Kakaki Nupe, the spokesperson of the Nupe people.
He was a promoter of Nigeria’s unity and an outstanding student of history and global politics.
Nda-Isaiah, fondly called “Sam”, is an alumnus of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.
