Buhari, Obasanjo, Yar’adua and I, by Sam Nda-Isaiah

You’ll be 50 on the 1st of May. How does it feel being 50? I don’t feel any different. I don’t feel any change. I don’t see it as a different day from any other but, of course, 50 years in Nigeria, as you know, is a privilege. You must thank God. Do you feel […]

You’ll be 50 on the 1st of May. How does it feel being 50?

I don’t feel any different. I don’t feel any change. I don’t see it as a different day from any other but, of course, 50 years in Nigeria, as you know, is a privilege. You must thank God.

Do you feel fulfilled at 50?

I feel there are a lot of things to be done. I thank God for many, many things, for giving me very good parents, who are still parents to me, for giving me a good wife, for giving me good kids, I thank God for  great friends, associates, I thank God that in my 50 years I have not had to beg.

Did you have any goals that you had wanted to achieve before you turn 50, such as wanting to be president? Did you have any such goals?

No, I thought that when I would be 50 I would have retired and would be managing my assets. That was what I thought 20 years ago.

So in that regards, you feel you are late in arriving at your goal?

No, I don’t feel that way at all. When I look at my contemporaries, I don’t feel so. I remember my father, about two years ago, asking my nine-year-old son what he would want to become in the future and he said he wanted to be a policeman and my father became worried and told me. I said to him when I asked him once, he told me he wanted to be a magician. So as you grow up, your goals change.

By Nigerian standards you have accomplished a lot, so what would be your projection for the next 50 years?

To be a hundred! No, I don’t think I would want to live to be a hundred, that would be ‘third term’ (laughs). But, of course, by the special grace of God, we are all going to live long to see some of the things we wish for our country come to pass. There are lots of things we see happening in other countries and by the grace of God we will see some of these things happening here.

You are a pharmacist by profession . . .

I was. I don’t think it would be correct to say that I am a pharmacist. I read pharmacy in the university; I went to the University of Ife. I think I practised pharmacy for only four  years before I delved into all kinds of businesses. All along, I have always been in the writing profession, even from the university. I was the national editor-in-chief of the National Pharmacists magazine. I was part of the group that managed a campus magazine.

Was it through your father’s influence that you got so involved in writing?

I think it has a lot to do with it because even as a child, when my father returned from work, he always brought back all the newspapers in Nigeria, including foreign papers, and he brought them for me because he saw that I had interest in them. And I used to enjoy them a lot.

Were you compelled then to study Pharmacy?

In those days, I don’t know if it has changed now, in those days the best students are in the sciences and everyone wanted me to study Medicine and I was not interested because it would take many years to complete. The closest thing to Medicine was Pharmacy and Ife was doing the course in four years, while others were doing it in five years. That was why I went to Ife, because I was in a hurry to finish school.

So it was because of your father that you became a journalist?

I think it is still a subject of debate, whether I am a journalist or not because at another level of discussion, I wouldn’t call myself a journalist. I started as a writer, I love writing, I love expressing myself very strongly and that’s how it’s been. And my closest contact with journalism was when I was on the editorial board of Daily Trust when it started. I contributed a lot to Candido when New Nigerian was vibrant. And many of my friends were in the media and I found myself on the editorial board of Trust, which was not a job. Some people said, perhaps. I should face the media.

Then how did you come about the concept of LEADERSHIP? At what point did it occur to you to publish a newspaper called LEADERSHIP?

There was this friend of mine, the late Salihijo Ahmed. He was the consultant to PTF. I was very close to Salihijo and he was the first person who kept insisting that I should leave everything I was doing and face the media because, quoting him now, ‘it would change Nigeria and it would change me’. The first time he said it I laughed. Salihijo actually was more mature than us, because he was my senior by five years, I think. He kept insisting and when he got this PTF job he brought me closer as a policy consultant. I wrote many papers, and at a point he said I must go into publishing. That was why the first book I wrote, I dedicated it to him.

When you started LEADERSHIP, it was a smaller place then. What were your fears and your hopes?

Thank God I had no fears, which was reckless at that time. Let me tell you how I started LEADERSHIP. When Salihijo was alive, as I said, he was at the forefront of pushing me to become a publisher. Of course, I had no money, so he said ok, he formed a small team which I managed. My first attempt was to start a newspaper called The Blueprint. Yes, the company is still there, called Blueprint Consortium. We registered the name. Salihijo himself was part of it, Abba Kyari was the chairman, Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim and myself. It would have started immediately after Daily Trust or about a year after. Then, when he [Salihijo] died, it was not that the idea died, but he was a substantial part of the discussion. The idea didn’t die in me. Immediately I started that, Mallam Kabiru Yusuf [CEO of Media Trust] invited me to the board of Trust. Trust was growing at the time. It wasn’t this strong but it had a lot of prospects. He said I should do a column, i.e Monday Column. At that time the column became very successful. Many people were saying to me that I should start a newspaper but I had no money, so an idea came to me. I decided to compile 50 of my articles from that column and put them into a book that I called Nigeria: Full Disclosure and I launched it, and by the standard of book launches then, it was successful. I remember Gov. Shekarau then [of Kano State], who was my friend, even got me a chief launcher and many people. On the day of the launch, we made about N9m, including sales, we made about N15m. Of course, it would have been reckless to start a newspaper with N15m, but thank God, I didn’t have a feasibility study at the time, I didn’t do it. I just wanted to start a newspaper and I prayed to God to bless it and he did and I started. Not many people gave us a chance then. Even some of our staff were saying we were going to fold up within months. We started first as LEADERSHIP Confidential, strictly by subscription. Of course, that was quite successful but it was a small market because Nigerians were not used to subscriptions. And in 2004, in the last week of September, we started LEADERSHIP, a weekly newspaper. In 2006, 1st February, we started the daily paper. That same year we added two titles, Sunday and Weekend. We are, in fact, the first in the Abuja based papers to start a full daily because Trust was not publishing Sunday at that time. I remember a very close friend of mine saying, “Sam ya cika karambani” [Sam is too brash]. But it was not said out of malice, and I think he was right because it was not something I gave a deep thought to.

What was the recklessness in it, the fact that you were not afraid?

Yes, because everybody should be, especially because of the stories we heard about those who had started, and it’s true anyway.

You coined the expression “Third Term”. How did you come about it?

Yes, I did. What happened then was that, that group that we wanted to start Blueprint, was associated with another group called the New Millennium Collective. We were the first to start calling on Obasanjo to contest for the presidency immediately after Abacha’s death. I remember he abused us then saying what is that group promoting me? I am not available for public office again, I remember very well. We wrote so many things then and placed adverts using our money. Then by the time Obansajo was convinced by General [Theophilus] Danjuma and Babangida, we believed that he could be a good president. What we wanted was for somebody to come to power and bring back the system we knew. There were structures before they started crumbling, and really they went off by the end of the military regime. We said Obasanjo had done it before even as a soldier; he had left the military, he had delved into agric successfully; he had gone to prison and we thought there was no better candidate. We started promoting him. Some people even abused us, saying that we were palace intellectuals of some people.

But very early in his government we started seeing some funny sides of him, like collecting gifts. You are president and you are collecting gifts, very abnormally, something that was a total departure from what we were used to. There were some things that we knew then that we did not say. We realised this was a totally different person from the one we knew. So we said we are in a real democracy, so let’s wait till 2003. I was one of those who encouraged Buhari to join the race for the Presidency. I didn’t know he would get the kind of crowd that he got. We didn’t see that coming at all. And then, Buhari became a force that Obasanjo now became so scared that instead of planning elections, they were planning how to rig. And we got information from inside, how Obasanjo allegedly arranged the mass thumb printing of [ballot] papers inside Aso Rock. What we have today is a continuation of Obasanjo. It was alarming. That time, I was the spokesman of Buhari. With information I got, my conclusion was that Obasanjo won’t leave power voluntarily. If any human being could go to that length – there were places in the South-East, where, because Chuba Okadigbo was the running mate to Buhari horrendous things done. It was the same story in the South-west. I had photographs that didn’t appear in any paper, which was one of my motivations to start a newspaper, I was sad, I didn’t just understand. My conclusion was that if any man was that desperate, he will not leave power without a fight. I remember I was talking to one British diplomat then. She was the head of the political desk, her name was Julian Dere, and she said this election was useless but let’s just leave it the way it is until this man leaves I said ‘no, this man will not leave’.

I didn’t write my column for Trust for several months and when I came back in September I made it clear that Obasanjo would not leave power without a fight. It was at that point that the term ‘third term’ came up. And when I said it some people were angry with me, that I should not use the word because it is wrong. IBB said at one time that I was an extremist. But it’s a tribute to IBB that, and this one of the reasons I respect him so much, when he heard third term, IBB called me and said, ‘Sam, I think some of us should start apologising to you.’ And we began to write about it so much in LEADERSHIP that some people said after third term, there won’t be LEADERSHIP.

Which article in your columns can you not forget?

There are many. Of course, now that people can respond to articles online and also call you, just when you think one is done with, you now get a call that people find it interesting.

But the most recent one is the one on Jega. My response to him when he was trying to pretend that there was nothing wrong with the 2011 elections. The response was incredible, all over the world.

Also there was another one on Soyinka. But these are just the recent ones.

Why did you decide to fight Yar’adua? You fought Obasanjo, and you went on to fight Yar’adua.

No, you know, people used the word fight carelessly. When he was campaigning, he came to LEADERSHIP twice or three times. When he came, the first thing I told him was that people didn’t have any problem with him, but his main problem would be Obasanjo, who was seen as his godfather Obasanjo is a serial election rigger. But he [Yar’adua] told me he would win and I said, fine if you want to win and enjoy the fruit of your victory, then make sure that your people don’t rig. I told him that.

And when the elections came and he won. That remains the worst election in this country, when he came, of course, we didn’t mince words with him. We continued saying the elections were rigged and we should not pretend. When the man was sworn in, he made reference to that.

Then I remember two of our very senior staff members here now came to meet me and said they thought we were being too hard on him and I said it was not personal. We were reporting what happened. Then on the day of his swearing in he [one of LEADERSHIP’s senior editors] wrote an editorial and he said he wanted to clear with me. Most of the time I don’t see the editorials, but he came and insisted that I should read it. When I read it, I noticed that he and others were looking at me. I said ok, hold on first. I now fixed an appointment to see Yar’adua. He was very happy to see me. I said, sir, you didn’t win, but we are going to support you because that was what my editors thought. He didn’t respond and you know, he had no facial expression. I was with him for two hours. I complained to him that though he was the president, everyone was going to Ota and, he said, Sam, whoever wants to go to Ota can go, but I know who the president is. I told him Obasanjo had sold off Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries to Dangote and his group, it must be revoked. We argued and argued and I said, sir, I am writing on it in my column and he said, good, I will look forward to it. I went back and looked at it and brought out evidence I was sure he did not have.

I also talked to him about Al-Mustapha’s trial: if he is guilty or not, it should be determined immediately. Of course, he could do nothing about that since he was advocating Rule of Law, but he went to Lagos and saw Gov. Fashola. I learned that it was discussed, but I was not there. The following day at about 2pm, I got a call from Tanimu Yakubu. He said Sam, your piece is causing a lot of problem in Aso Rock. And by 4pm, the sale of the refineries was revoked.

Of course, I didn’t know that he [Yar’adua] didn’t like the fact that I said he didn’t win. By the time I said it three times, he lost his cool and said, you are saying I didn’t win, so who won, is it Buhari of Atiku? I said, no sir, nobody won because there was no election. He just shrugged as if to say that’s your business.

He didn’t like my column at all. I was told by [James] Ibori, that some people were telling the president that I and my friends, meaning, [Muhammadu] Buhari, [Nuhu] Ribadu and Nasiru [El Rufai] we were instigating the judiciary to remove him. Then, one day, we got credible information that he [Yar’adua] was ill and that some Egyptian doctors were flown in to treat the president. It was very secret, and they knew only an insider could give us that scoop. I did my research and gave it to a very senior editor to write the story. For some very strange reasons, the editor now went and added his own view, very irresponsibly. He added that the president didn’t attend the Friday prayers, which was clearly not true. He also added that the president didn’t see the German president, which I saw him doing on the TV. I was woken very early by [John] Odeh [then minister of information] asking what my boys were writing and asked me to see the paper. I slept thinking it was nothing. Then I got another call from Tilde [Yar’adua’s CSO], He was very angry. When I read the paper I was very angry.

Meanwhile in that same paper, we wrote that the president received the German president. And that editor had just resumed. So, I said I must have made a very huge error in recruitment and in my judgement of the guy. I called a meeting and asked that an apology should be written to the president. By afternoon, Segun Adeniyi [Yar’adua’s spokesman] commented angrily and said they would be going to court. I think he said it to calm down nerves in Aso Rock, but people like [Michael] Aandoaakaa saw an opportunity and took it up. But what really annoyed me also was Aandoakaa called me and said that Sam, come let’s meet at home because I know what you did for us when we first came in. So come let’s solve this thing. So I went to his house and he said what we wrote was not an apology because they said we should write an apology about everything.  He kept insisting that we should send it to AIT and other media. I didn’t know he wanted to use it as evidence. So we eventually did as he suggested and he took it as part of the evidence.

Anyone who has followed your column will think that you hate Obasanjo . . .

Do you think I hate him? Do you think it’s personal? Is there anything I have said about him that is not true? I don’t like the fact that Obsanjo was given an opportunity to take us out of the quagmire that we found ourselves in and he now took advantage of the system. It was the period where we had the kind of oil boom we have never had before. All oil producing countries developed, Nigeria was the only country that had more poverty. And the kind of money that they stole. Everything I said about Obasanjo is true. In fact, there are so many things we knew about Obasanjo that we did not say because we would look like a very unserious country. The problems we have now can be directly traced to him. He deliberately didn’t want to hold elections, deliberately brought a sick president. . .

Are you now regretting that you were one of the first people to have campaigned for Obasanjo?

The only way to answer this is that when we started regretting, Awoniyi said no, no, you can’t regret because the only way to judge a presidential aspirant is to look at his antecedents and there were no antecedents of Obasanjo that we did not look at. There was a time I put TY Danjuma to task at his house. I said, sir, people like us can say we didn’t know Obasanjo and we would be forgiven, but people like us were inspired by people like you who came out and said if this man didn’t win you would leave the country. He just looked at me and kept quiet for some time. Then he said, look, Sam, I think I didn’t know the kind of person he is (laughs), but I think Shehu [Yar’adua] did.

Against the background of your passion for this country what is your political ambition for 2015?

Let me answer you like Jonathan said recently. I have not decided.

But wouldn’t that be a distraction?

Distraction to what? I don’t run this newspaper anymore. Azu is the GMD.

In that case, you are considering running?

No, I have not said so. What I am saying is I am not a manager, I am an entrepreneur and I rather want professional managers run the place. I am not into full time management.

Now that you are turning 50, if you were given another opportunity to do it again, would you have gone into politics or would you have gone into publishing?

I think I would have done everything that I am doing now. I love what I am doing. If you are a newspaper publisher you will always be involved in politics but it’s just for you to keep yourself above the fray. You sit down and politicians come and ask you for advice. As a newspaperman your job is to keep government officials on their toes and to speak the truth to those in the corridors of power. If you don’t know politics how would you do that? And don’t forget in 2003, I was spokesman for Buhari and we have this New Millennium Initiative that we used to ask Obasanjo to contest. So I have always been involved in politics.

What are your fears for this industry with the online fighting to push the print edition out?

The online is part of the media. Eventually people will have to pay for the online content. Some newspapers abroad are charging and we too will start charging for some contents this year. And that is what it would be eventually. If you are in this business and didn’t realise that there is a paradigm shift then you are going to be out of business.

From your experience, what would you say about the security situation in the country?

One thing I can tell you is that this is worse than the Civil War because during the Civil War, it was only places that the fighting was going on that were affected. As a child, growing up in Minna, I have no memories of the Civil War. Maybe the pogrom in the north before the war. But what is happening now? October 1st, when we were celebrating 50 years of Independence, some people told us they were coming to bomb Abuja and they did. As we speak, we don’t know if those that were arrested have been tried. Then Boko Haram came. I don’t think that Afghanistan is worse than our situation because there, I was told by someone who should know, anyone who plants a bomb that country will be arrested. But what we hear here is that a bomb factory has been discovered here and there, and that is the end of it. Everyday that is what we hear. We never find out who are those people operating the factories