Pharmacist Sam Nda-Isaiah, publisher of Leadership newspapers, discovered the enormous power of the written word a long time ago and moved in the consciousness of that fact in 2004 to fully appropriate and deploy it with the establishment of the Leadership newspapers.
Writers in different climes, including Nigeria, have made the written words a tool for building and rebuilding the society for the general good. But not for Nda-Isaiah who, since 1999 to date, has deployed the power of the word, starting with the pages of Trust newspapers, to harangue successive Nigerian governments.
In 2004, the space offered by Trust was too restrictive for him to indulge his kind of writing that borders on an extreme kind of intimidation. He started up Leadership Confidential, which later transformed into Leadership publications, with which he unleashed his venom on former President Olusegun Obasanjo, using the platform of his Monday back page column.
He did not spare the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. His current game is President Goodluck Jonathan, whose person he has extensively denigrated, and whose administration he has unconscionably undermined. Nda-Isaiah’s proclivity to attack Jonathan and his government has now assumed a greater frenzy because of his jostle for the presidency on the platform of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Now to one of his latest criticisms of the Jonathan administration, which he couched in his January 13, 2014 article titled: “Is the President Aware that $10.8b is missing?” Interestingly, Nda-Isaiah’s poser about the alleged ‘missing’ monies in the coffers of the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC) is faulty. It is either he did not listen to the explanation proffered on how $10.8 billion was expended with convincing details or he has decided to be mischievous.
I am not trying to spin anything here in favour of NNPC but the truth should be told that Nda-Isaiah hid under sophistry in trying to create the impression that the NNPC has committed some malfeasance in the management of the monies. His adversarial voyage is, no doubt, in furtherance of the allegation by the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, whose leaked letter to President Jonathan on the issue had indicated an allegedly missing $48.9 billion.
But that allegation was proved to be false. Even the expenditure of $10.8b, out of which Nda-Isaiah tried to make an issue had been explained by the NNPC.
In the article, Nda-Isaiah accused Jonathan of shielding thieves; or rightly put, encouraging corruption in his administration. He premised the accusation on the allegation by Sanusi that $10.8 billion is missing in the coffers of NNPC, an allegation the Corporation has explained satisfactorily to stakeholders except Nda-Isaiah and his northern cohorts.
In the write-up, Nda-Isaiah succeeded in just raking up mud and splashing the same on Jonathan. He wrote: “and by the way, the president has also lost the majority of his governors, and, here, I am not just talking about the G5 governors. There are several PDP governors today that are not with the president, and those are the governors that I think the president should be worried about.”
What correlation does this paragraph have with the argument of the ‘missing’ monies in the NNPC which fire he tried stoking in the piece? It is obvious that his intention was not to educate his readers on how he came to the assertion that the monies got missing, those responsible for the missing money and the amount each of them shared (if all of these really happened).
It is sad that Nda-Isaiah has used his newspaper, Leadership, to position himself as a social crusader, of sort, who should be saddled with the governance of this country. Such self-glorification is indeed cheap. Recently he sponsored a New Year message in most of the national dailies trying to tell whoever cares to listen that he has what it takes to lead his country.
Not only that, the resources available to him as the owner of Leadership that should have been used to better the lot of his workers have been frivolously expended on chieftains titles aimed at currying supporters and followers in every state of the federation preparatory to his declaration for elective position in 2015.
In the article, Nda-Isaiah ended up telling his readers that Sanusi should be an icon for revealing unfounded allegation about “missing’ monies in NNPC, regardless of the fact that Sanusi had earlier recanted on the allegation.
It is pathetic that Nda-Isaiah, in the conclusion of his treatise, would go to the extreme of insulting Nigerians who have genuine reasons to support the second term bid of President Jonathan, ostensibly in his attempt to defend Sanusi, not because he loves Sanusi, but because Sanusi’s misadventure provides an opportunity to question the integrity of the accounting process in the NNPC and by extension the Jonathan presidency.
Read the conclusion of his piece:”With all these happening, it is quite befuddling how anyone will want Jonathan to continue as president beyond 2015, as few jesters are currently doing. Any one, no matter who that person is, who wants President Jonathan to govern Nigeria beyond 2015 is an enemy of the Nigerian state.”
Talking about enemy of the Nigerian state, is it the person who supports the administration of Jonathan, based on the giant strides recorded in the past two and a half years and as evidenced in all the spheres of the economy, that is the enemy of the Nigerian State or the person who deliberately misinforms and tries to incite the public against the Federal Government?
I am yet to come to terms with what Nda-Isaiah wants in the Nigerian project. Since 1999 to date he has not seen anything good in the successive governments that he can project for his readers to appreciate. Instead, he has been preoccupied with casting aspersion on them (successive administrations) and trying to expose their underbellies not out of patriotic fervor but for some orchestrated personal political gains.
I am aware that he has enlisted as a member of All Progressive Congress (APC) on which platform he seeks to run for the presidency. He knows it is a pipedream, but he can always negotiate for a piece of the national cake in the event his party wins at the centre. But God forbid! This is why he is sadly using his newspaper to unfairly promote himself and damage Jonathan, whose position he desires.
But Nda-Isaiah should be objective in his assessment of the Jonathan administration and project the success achieved in some critical sectors such as agriculture, power, commerce and industry, road construction, job creation, health, and aviation just to mention a few.
This is the honourable and patriotic thing to do to contribute to the building of the society rather than by propagating party line and hate campaign in his write-ups. But unfortunately, his venture into partisan politics has now finally sounded the death knell for objectivity in his writings and the editorial position of his newspaper.
Jones sent this piece via Abimbolajones2013@yahoo.com
