FOR THE RECORDS ... INTERVIEW : Nda-Isaiah: I Was a Subject of Interest to Everybody at Ife Because... ThisDayLive

Sam Nda-Isaiah 

Sam Nda-Isaiah fits the image of an entrepreneur that needs no introduction. In less than a decade, he has diversified his business interest, from owning the Leadership Newspaper Group, to restaurants, publishing, IT companies real estate and many more. His recent decision to run in the 2015 presidential election has elicited surprises, criticism and support. In this interview with Emmanuel Bello and Paul Obi, Nda-Isaiah who intends to run under All Progressive Congress bares his mind on several touching issues from his humble beginnings to corruption, the danger of a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, his angst against President Goodluck Jonathan and many more. Excerpts

Recall  your early days for us, growing up, education and the environment that shaped your views?
I was born in Minna, in 1961; we still stay in the house where I was born in Limawa. That’s where I went to register for the APC. I was with my grandparents up till when I was five years old, when my dad who was then in New Nigeria Newspaper said I should come and start school. My dad has been a journalist all his life. He started work first in Gaskyia Corporation in Zaria; he started from the lowest rank. He was employed something less than a proof reader, I think. Then, the expatriates noticed that he was different. They just gave him something to proof read and they were so impressed. They were the ones that took note of him and started promoting him; they also started sending him on courses.

Briefly, he went to Kano to work for the NPC-owned Daily Mail. He worked there briefly and came back to Zaria. So, when New Nigeria was formed in 1966, he was among the first to join the company in Kaduna. So, I joined him in Kaduna to start primary school. I remember very well; he just took me to one school. Then, it was called Christ Church School. It was a small missionary school that was eventually taken over by the then North Central State government. And there, I met everybody; I met people from the north, from the South, from the East. Even though the war was actually going on, we had a few Ibo people in the school, who were protected. Of course, many people from Bendel, the Mid-Western state. So, I grew up in this eclectic environment. After primary education, I went to Government College, Kaduna. I remember that it was the late Muhammadu Turi who specifically said I should go to Government College, Kaduna; he was a close family friend. He was then the Managing Director of New Nigeria newspapers. My father was already Chief Editor or Associate Editor. Of course, I did every other thing school children did. One thing I remember very well as a child, was that I had shoes, when I was growing up. There was this childhood photo in which I was on a bike. So, I had more than shoes. We did every other thing that normal children did, but I always find it funny in school when people sneak out to go to cinema or drink alcohol. I didn’t do all those things, I mean by choice. I won’t say I was a good boy, no. I just decided as a child that I was not going to do it. I have never smoked before.

In Form Five, I did SBS examination. I also did JAMB, and we were the second set of JAMB then. If you remember very well in 1978 when JAMB started, there was actually a protest by northern students that JAMB was against the north. I did JAMB. I chose University of Ife, and I chose Pharmacy. The results came, I passed. We were only two that passed the exams in Government College. The other guy chose Quantity Survey, but he went abroad subsequently. I went to Ife and I enjoyed it very well. I was new. In the whole of Ife, we were about 15 northerners. There was a northern meeting called Zumunta. I was the only northerner in the whole of Pharmacy then, from part one to four. I became a subject of interest to everybody; I was called an Hausa man, even though I was not. As a child, I found myself being called Hausa. I say no, I am not Hausa, they ask ‘but you’re from the north.’ At a point, I found it was not necessary. I enjoyed myself thoroughly in Ife. The fact that I was from the North was a subject of fascination to many of them. I made many friends, till date. I went into school with many points and yet many of them don’t think than I should do well in school. In pharmacy, at a time, half of the set must repeat. I remember when I was graduating, that year, many people failed. So, one girl was looking at the names, she said, ‘so this Hausa boy passed’ as if I was not supposed to. That year, there was massive failure. I left Ife and briefly went to Kano for internship. I came back to Minna, and I was posted to Ondo for my youth service. I finished, and was one of those who got job. I joined Pfizer; I have always been a private sector person.

I resigned from Pfizer in 1988 and started my own, opening pharmacy. All through, I have always been writing. I was one of the founders of Touch Magazine. I was also elected the Editor of our newsletter. I have always felt very strongly about good governance, about having the right things done.

You grew around the newspaper circle, with people like Turi Muhammad. How much of that, apart from sharpening your passion for writing, also contributed to your becoming a newspaper publisher?
I think almost of all that. My father has never worked anywhere else; I didn’t know my father doing any other job apart from a newspaper. Even this morning, he has called me to complain about one error he saw in Leadership; he does that every day. He is 80 years old and he does that every day. Every day, he picks up Leadership looking at it with that eye. I grew up around newspaper. I grew up knowing names like Adamu Ciroma, Mamman Daura, and Turi of course. There was a time that we stayed even in New Nigerian staff quarters. In those days, my dad used to bring all the newspapers around the world; all the major newspapers. In those days, as a senior newspaper man, he would bring Times Magazine, the International Tribune and the New York Times. As a small boy, I was reading all of them. My day knew I was keen on such things; he would bring them home and say they should go and give me. So, of course that must have influenced me a lot.

But then you veered into pharmacy?
Yes, the best students those days were all in the sciences; you were either asked to do medicine or pharmacy. The only reason why I didn’t want to do medicine; my dad didn’t force anything on me, he just hinted that I should do medicine. The only reason I didn’t do medicine, was I thought it took a long time. I thought it was a lifetime, to spend all that years in school; that was the one reason I didn’t do medicine. That’s why I chose pharmacy - something close to medicine. I’m not one of those that would say ‘if you want to do the media, you have to go and read a particular thing.’ No, the media encompasses everything; if you open a newspaper, you see politics, you see entertainment. Of course, you will understand English Language if you are to be communicating in English. You must have good judgment, you can be in the media and not be balanced, and you won’t go far. But I love media work.

So, do you consider yourself a journalist?
I have never considered myself a journalist because I have not worked in a newspaper house. My first job in a newspaper house was as a publisher. I consider myself a writer and media entrepreneur.

Let’s talk about that. Can you tell us the story of Leadership?
The story of Leadership is the story of... it is just God. You know why I’m very reluctant about talking about Leadership? It will sound so easy and people can start getting it wrong. That’s why I said it’s a miracle. I have been a writer, I’ve been writing, writing. Then, I was invited to sit on the Editorial Board of Trust by Kabiru Yusuf. In fact, even being part of The Touch in Ife was part of that passion.  I was Buhari’s Spokesperson and Deputy DG of the campaign which we started in 2002. As I speak now, I’m still a member of The Buhari Organisation (TBO), because it’s an idea. After the 2003 elections I started Leadership Confidential with less than a million naira.

The Confidential was only a subscription newsletter for subscribers, moulded after the African Confidential almost the same colour. A year later, I wanted to start a newspaper. They tell you that only a mad man would do that. Sometimes, you have to be mad to get some things done. I had no money. I remembered, I had not paid my house rent in Kaduna of one hundred and fifty thousand naira, and I wanted to start a newspaper. How do I do it short of robbing a bank? So, I decided to launch some of my articles, 50 of my articles. Then, I had written 150 articles and I was still in Daily Trust. So, I picked about 50. I enlisted the support of Shekarau. Then, we were in the same TBO and he was now the Governor. He got me a chief launcher, and we raised N17 million. Some other came later and it became N20 million; most of them pledges. Only a mad man will start a newspaper with N17 million, especially when he doesn’t have even an office. I think the thing that helped me was that I didn’t do any feasibility study. If I had done it, it would have killed it. If I had done it, I won’t start it. The study would have told me that I was not big enough to start it. Some said ‘who is he that he wants to start a newspaper.’ Some said ‘let him start, we will chop his money’. At that time, I didn’t blame those who thought it won’t work; they actually made more sense than me. By the time we started, I didn’t want to start small, like a very poor newspaper. I started the last week of September, 2004. What I did was simple: Anywhere I saw adverts, I will just carry them. I was the Chairman, I was the MD, I was the Accountant, and I was the General Manager. When we carry the adverts, I will go and meet them, if I go and meet some governors to pay, they would laugh and laugh, but they all paid. I saw some real goodwill. I remember somebody like Mamman Daura who subscribed for two years not knowing if the next edition will come. That’s the kind of goodwill that will make you to be afraid to fail. When we started the weekly, the governor of Niger State called his media people, that from now on, the official newspaper is Leadership; at least, the governor reasoned, he’s the only person from Niger with a newspaper. We started the daily when we didn’t have a press. Many things were against us. We now have all titles; we are the only newspaper with a special Friday issue, one of the most successful platforms online and a very successful Hausa edition. The company has now grown to six subsidiaries. We now have Leadership Editors, (books only), Alanwood, Banana Republic and a bureau de change somewhere. Of course, we are still growing. If you stop growing you die.

There are criticisms that you should have just stayed in the media. That you shouldn’t have ventured into politics. What is your reaction to this?
I have brought it to the level. In fact for the past three years, I have not been involved. I have not been managing Leadership. I have not been involved in management. I have very competent directors. I have gone beyond management now; I’m now an entrepreneur. In fact, I am now a serial entrepreneur. There is enough to do. As I speak now, we have close to 700 staff. Why? I am not entering politics because I love it. I am not a politician. Not that I didn’t think I was going to contest for president, entering into politics to me just happened; I didn’t plan it. I don’t think it’s a good job. I was doing very well as a publisher, and I was enjoying it. I also think it also pays well too.

The media is a very huge and powerful institution, and it is very difficult to separate the media from politics. Do you think your media organisation would be objective, balanced and fair as you join one of the political parties?
When I started leadership, I know many people; including Kabiru Yusuf thought that because I was Buhari spokesperson, the whole paper will turn into a Buhari thing. I said no, when you read the paper, you will know.  I am a very fair person. I’m not that kind of person. I am a very balanced person. So, I resigned three years ago as Editor-in-Chief and I have resigned some months ago as Chairman.

Are the editors free to criticise you?
Have you not been reading how people write in Leadership and criticise me? I have seen that many times, and I have never asked. People write their columns and criticise me; it has been happening. Maybe, you didn’t see it and assumed that it doesn’t happen in Leadership. It happens.

There are people who have said that people, who manage newspaper, don’t do any other thing. They just stay there and manage newspaper. Does that kind of talks worry you?
If that is true, then I will be the first to be, because I have been the first in many things that I am doing. I don’t know whether it is true. Abiola didn’t really manage the paper; he financed it. I’m more involved than Abiola. So, I will be glad to be the first.

In your writings, you had a good followership, but at a point, you took your criticisms against President Goodluck Jonathan to a peak that your critics at a point also said ‘no, this is more than a writer, the quarrel was been personalised.’ At what point did you decide to take it to that level?
As a Nigerian, you don’t think that there are good reasons not just to criticise Jonathan but to ensure that he doesn’t come back to power? I’m asking you now, not as a journalist but as a Nigerian. I believe that Jonathan has not been criticised enough. So, what do you mean by ‘taking it personal.’

Some say you criticise Jonathan as an arm chair person who is sitting in the comfort of a back page of a column to criticise a president who is actually seeing action. Now, you want to see the action yourself. Don’t you think there is a difference between the beauty of writing about how to solve Nigerian problems and the actual work of what Jonathan is doing as a president?
What’s an arm chair thing? $20 billion is missing, any president will get angry about that, and try to fish the people out. And not get angry with the guy who is trying to expose the crime. What is there to learn? Do you need to go to school to learn that? Or do you need to go to school to know why our security has failed. It is much easier to run a country than to run a newspaper, because, you have everything in your disposal. I have said this many times. All those that said they have experience to be president, let all of them go and start a newspaper or even start a business, a kiosk and be selling pure water. My biggest experience in this race for the president is that I have not been part of this whole rot.

What you are saying is that because you have managed a newspaper, you think you can manage Nigeria very well?
Not a newspaper only, other businesses as well. I don’t blame you for thinking that it’s a rocket science, because the way these people are doing it.  Just run the country fairly, punish crime and have a vision.

The President has complained of saboteurs and the fact that he’s a minority?
If he feels so strongly about that, then, he should resign today. I don’t know where somebody is already a president and he still calling himself a minority. If he still has that complex, he shouldn’t be president. If he has saboteurs, you are president; he should get them and deal with them. There was a time he said there were Boko Haram people in his government; what has he done? What has the Attorney General done to bring to book?

You talked about terrorism, some northern elders have been saying that the Federal Government is not doing enough, but it is believed that many persons with the responsibility of security have failed. The governors in those parts of the country where Boko Haram are striking, elders, politicians and even traditional rulers have not taken their responsibilities seriously and there are even cases that some of them are shielding terrorists. What is your opinion on these?
Why has the president not arrested those elders indicted? You can’t run a country that way. The constitution says that the security and welfare of the people is the responsibility of the government. The constitution didn’t say it is the responsibility of the elders or traditional rulers. As we speak now, the Police, security, the SSS are under the direct control of the president. Why would you blame governors who don’t even have state police? I don’t know why you are talking about some people having responsibility, to do what? Are they armed? Only the government has a commensurate power of aggression. Why should I or a northern elder that is not armed say something about a killer, who is likely going to come and kill you tomorrow? In fact the few who did it, including Sheik Albani and his son were murdered. And you want them to be talking, when they are not protected? Please, only one man has the responsibility for safety and security of the people, and that man is the president of the country. And this is not about Jonathan, if he is not the president today, nobody will talk about him.

As a member of APC, there are insinuations that from top-down, the APC is a Muslim party that can be liken to the Muslim Brotherhood Party in Egypt, and you are a Christian; how are you going to manage all these?

Do you believe that? Have you counted? When they said so, I remember that APC brought out the figures, and counted among all the executives, it was about the same. One was more than the other by one point. But it is the PDP that wants to play religious politics. Why should they call it a Muslim party? If you look at it from the Chairman to Vice Chairman to PRO, they counted everything; and found out that the numbers were just about the same.