Sam Nda-Isaiah, an APC chieftain and Presidential aspirant, is the founder and immediate past chairman, LEADERSHIP Newspapers. He is so far the new face among those who have indicated interest to contest for the presidency in Nigeria, both on the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and All Progressives Congress, APC, platforms. In these days when the majority of Nigerians are yearning for a new face — an active and vibrant person — as in other climes, Nda-Isaiah, according to his supporters, is the only one among the major parties that appears to fit the bill. [caption id="attachment_2443" align="alignleft" width="320"] Sam Nda-Isaiah[/caption] Nda-Isaiah who hails from Niger State was born in Minna in 1962. He had his primary and secondary education in Kaduna and got admitted to the University of Ife, Ile- Ife (as it was called) in 1979. He graduated in 1983 with a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy (B.Pharm). He did his internship at the Minna General Hospital before proceeding to Ondo State for his National Youth Service. He served at both Ilare-Ekiti General Hospital and State Hospital, Ikere-Ekiti, in Ekiti State. He joined the Pfizer Products Ltd in 1985 and resigned in 1989 to delve into entrepreneurship. He has been described by those who know him from childhood as completely detribalised and a bridge builder. Halima Abdullahi, who was classmates with Sam in the primary school, said: “Sam was not given to religious sentiments even at a very tender age. Samuel is one person who was always saying that there was nothing like being a Christian or a Muslim. Till now, he believes that all of us serve one God.” Sam has wide range of friends cutting across social, regional and religious divides. He is close to Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Chief Ernest Shonekan, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubarkar, Gen. T.Y. Danjuma, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, Senator Alli Modu Sheriff, Dr. Ogbonnanya Onu, all the APC governors and some PDP governors. Others are Sam Ohuabunwa (his former boss), Sen. Ken Nnamani, Sen. Chris Ngige, elder statesman Edwin Clark, Donald Duke, Tony Anenih (until recently after the public exchange of letters), Fafa Princewill, Joi Yowika and Princewill Otoks. Each year, Nda-Isaiah has been the chief host of the LEADERSHIP Awards and Conferences that bring together former heads of governments and prominent politicians to review political and social issues that affect the country. The APC presidential aspirant is widely seen as the candidate that can unite Nigeria and heal the wounds currently tearing the country apart. The political calculation in some quarters is that, since religion has become such an issue for the 2015 presidential election, especially with the centrality of Boko Haram in the life of the country at the moment, it might be expedient for the APC to present a northern Christian as its presidential candidate. A professor at the Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, said: “Since Jonathan is already polarising the country through religion, the APC should get a northern Christian who is also acceptable to the Muslims if it wants to win. If they do that, it will be the end of the Jonathan regime.” Speaking along the same line, a senior member of the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, said that because Jonathan has divided the country along religious lines, the two major parties (PDP and APC) must present presidential candidates of the same religion in order to protect the country. Said he: “If Jonathan insists on contesting, then, the APC should present a northern Christian candidate, but if Jonathan does not contest or is defeated at the PDP primaries and a Muslim emerges as the PDP presidential candidate, the APC should present a Northern Muslim. “This is the only way to save the country at the moment, considering the type of dangerous divisions that the Jonathan administration is creating.” But Sam says he is not campaigning as a northerner or a Christian. “I am a Nigerian seeking the APC presidential ticket who just happens to be a northerner and a Christian,” he says. Asked his opinion about a recent newspaper story which stated that some people in his party were working for a Muslim-Muslim ticket, he replies: “Whether anyone is working towards a Muslim-Muslim ticket or a Christian-Christian ticket, or a Muslim-Christian ticket or a Christian-Muslim ticket, we intend to win the APC nomination and proceed to defeat President Jonathan next year, because we know how important this is to Nigeria.” Some, especially from the old school, consider his lack of experience in government as a liability. But he and his associates do not think so. The kind of experience needed to move Nigeria into the comity of developed nations, he says, is the type he has: world outlook and exposure, entrepreneurship experience, ability to bring people together. Moreover, he insists he is not part of the “experienced” looters that have brought Nigeria to its current state. In his words: “You can’t have more experience than President Jonathan. He has been a deputy governor, then governor, then vice-president, acting president and then president. Is that the kind of experienced people we want?” The answer is obvious. He speaks to AYORINDE OLUOKUN Some days ago, you clocked 52 years of age. Looking back and reflecting on your life, what are the fond memories you have of Nigeria in those days of growing up? Almost everything. The Nigeria that we live in today is totally different from the Nigeria we had when we didn’t have this kind of money. Life was peaceful even during the civil war. I, for instance, have never paid school fees in my life. When we were in Government College, Kaduna, we got exercise books for free, we got amenities free, and we remember the quality of our teachers. And then, whenever there was an armed robbery operation, one needed to talk things over – it would be discussed for two to three months continuously. It is not as if they were not there but they were not like what we are seeing today. Everything was different. That’s why it’s painful when, after we are supposed to have grown up, we make much more as a nation than we were making before and the country appears to be poorer and indigent. And that is the basis of all this bloodshed that we see in this country. Is this why you have chosen to leave your comfort zone — you were doing well as a publisher, having crossed over from your initial profession as a pharmacist — and you are now going into the rumble and tumble world of politics? You know the cloak and dagger business of politics; why did you decide to take the plunge? I thought I told you that I left the job by choice. There was no reason to leave, as I was enjoying it. I think it’s a good job especially because I have always said that it is not normal for you as a human being. That decision to want to be President of Nigeria — if you really know the burden, what it takes and what it is all about, it is actually like deciding whether you want to choose how to die. You know, being given an option to choose how to die. I don’t know how to explain it to make sense because at times it doesn’t make sense that I am doing what I’m doing. But I know that I did not just start this thing recklessly; it was not something I didn’t think through. It was not something that I am happy doing. I don’t know whether I am communicating but I know what I mean — I just don’t know whether I am passing it across. I have always said, for instance, that the job of the president is not a good job. No, it is not a job for you to feel cool about or to have fun. If you are doing the job, there is no fun but of course, one thing led to the other and, well, I’m in it already and I’m in it to win. As a result, I have been making contacts and talking to people, not just party leaders. I had a town-hall meeting in Akure where I discussed with a quality gathering of the political, business, academic and professional entity of the state; it’s quite good. The quality of those that attended the meeting and the quality of the discussions was good. Yesterday, we were in Ado-Ekiti for the rally. So I’m in it; I’m already addicted to it. When did you begin to nurse this idea that you should go for it; that is, saying to yourself maybe I can also be a part of this redemption of the country? I will not say that the idea has not passed through my mind one way or the other in the past, but I quickly stuck to it for the same reason that I told you that, actually, it is not a good job. I strongly believe that if Nigeria were to be under an average president, it would be unlikely that I would be doing this thing. It is not as if in the past I had not thought about it. But after the 2011 elections, I started getting calls from very serious Nigerians, politicians who said that they had been thinking about this thing, that they had thought about this country and they thought that I should join the race. Of course, it was sudden. I was amused initially. I was wondering. I am talking of very serious politicians — I won’t call names now but they are very serious people – starting from the North here and eventually around the country, especially from the Lagos end. I knew that I would have to make up my mind quickly before I was pushed into what I have not thought about or, since I don’t want to be president, I really wanted to be sure that this is how I wanted to live my life. Not that we don’t know what is wrong but to really have a plan on how to get us to the First World. Why do you say Nigerians should trust you with their votes to become the No. 1 Citizen? I think the scores of people that have been following me recently, even those that have not met me, know me and know I have a plan. You can’t pretend to be what you are not for 10 - 20 years. So I think those that know me already know the kind of change that I believe in. And for those that don’t know me, I think it is my duty to show them who this person is and to convince them. And they have the right to ask all questions. That is why, in this election, starting from the primaries, we are going to insist on a series of debates among ourselves so that Nigerians will see. They should know what they want to pay for, and that is what democracy should be about. I know that there will be many debates; I think also that Nigerians will need to do things a little bit differently. They won’t just vote for you because you appeared from nowhere and you had no shoes growing up; and so what? They want to understand more. If you have not started something from the scratch and succeeded in spite of the rough and tumble of doing anything in this country, that is, you have not started. I am not talking about being lucky to be given one appointment here and there and maybe you are part of those who kill this country. No. And you come and use that as an experience. No. I am talking of what Nigeria is now as we speak. The serious thing that I intend people to know is that we have to start from ground zero. So nobody has the experience of what we are going to be doing or to come and tell me, I have been this and that. Then the thing we are even going to do first, if we are talking like that, is how to defend yourself if you are not part of those that brought us to this particular state. So I think that we have come to the crossroads, and if you have your ear to the ground you will know that, even for Nigerians, some things have changed. So that is it. It is my duty to sell my candidature to the public. It is not yet time for campaign; I’m not campaigning; I have been consulting very seriously and we are talking today. In some of your interviews you talked about running a government of big ideas. What are these big ideas that you want to sell to Nigerians so that Nigerians can give you their support? That is our trade mark: we want to be assessed by that. We want to be held accountable by that. I have been saying it: if you have been watching, for instance, the kind of adverts that Jonathan is placing for his campaign, which is not even true – like showing some roads… Are you not supposed to build roads as a government? That should be the normal work of the bureaucracy of every country. I want to be that president that will come and, for instance, do big projects and implement big ideas like the one I just discussed — moving Nigeria forward as a First World nation in five years. Look at Nigeria. We are already the biggest economy in Africa. So why is our port the sixth or eighth largest seaport in Africa? Why shouldn’t we have by far the biggest port in Africa? When you look at the location of Nigeria in Africa, it is in the middle. Why is Nigeria not the hub of aviation in Africa? Why shouldn’t it be that everybody that is coming to Africa to do whatever it is that they do, why wouldn’t Nigeria be the point of interest to start? We are in the centre, we are supposed to be strong enough to be able to present ourselves as that hub that it is. I am just giving you examples. The last time I checked, they said we have 17 million housing deficit. And then somebody will come and tell you that I built 3,000 houses. We should be building houses in millions. And why I am talking this way is, when you build one million housing units across the nation, you create 35 million new jobs — from engineers or architects to bricklayers or block makers, brick sellers, labourers and those that are selling tiles, furniture makers. Just look at the plumbers, those that are selling food by the sides, electricians. Housing is always a major economic activity. We cannot do it this way. So, that is the kind of big ideas that I am talking about. As we speak now, we have about 48 million Nigerians out of employment and Okonjo-Iweala told us that every year 1.5 million new graduates are being added. That is for those that finished school. Nobody should explain to you why we have all these when you look at the whole country. Some people want to deceive themselves that it is only in the North-east that we have problems; in fact the same place in Abuja has had serious casualties of bombings. See what happened in Jos. For God’s sake, go to Zamfara State — you hear of gunmen. There is nowhere you go to — in fact, go to South-east: I can’t forget about two or three months ago that some people went and attacked the government house. They called themselves the Biafrans and went to announce that they wanted to send a message because they knew and they had agreed that they could do it and get away with it. Is that how to run a country? A relation of the President was kidnapped. So it is not the North-east alone; the whole country is in disorder, unemployment. And the truth is that we don’t have 48 million new jobs to give people; the jobs are not available. So what we intend to do, for instance, is to create the enabling environment; not just creating it but guiding it to create like 5 million new businesses; technically, 5 million small businesses. Typically, a small business employs between one and five people. Somebody is leaving school and is able to start something, or even somebody that is able to package what he is doing well. I mean an organised setting that you call a business. It is not just to say I have done Sure-P. No, it has to be something very serious. You guide them — and that is how to create 5 million jobs. So, by the time you include this and the housing units I told you about, and then massive investment in infrastructure, most of these kidnappings will cease. Because they won’t have recruits. Then you can now deal with those that are sponsoring them. You cannot sit down as a leader or president and be saying that some people are sponsoring killings; they kill themselves because they want to bring my government down. That is a good place to start: then get them and let them face the full weight of the law. Don’t blame your incompetence. That is by the way. I am talking about what I want to do. With all the plans and ideas that you have given now…(cuts in) Sorry, this is just a little: I think I have given you about two or three. This is just a few, so when we start the campaign you will see the real me, by the grace of God. I have noticed that all those funny adverts that we see on TV now, they are already using our terms and shamelessly saying some things, but I don’t mind. We have been there for five years; so I don’t know why they think that Nigerians are that foolish. There is the question of funding for some these ideas that you have mentioned. Because the government will always argue that there is no money to do all these things, that it cannot be actualised. How do you intend to get funds beyond the paltry money we are getting from the sale of crude oil? Don’t get deceived that we don’t have money. There is money, there is plenty of money. And let me give you an idea: Nigeria was built the way Nigeria is now… Even with all our complaints, Abuja and Lagos — when you look at the biggest cities in Nigeria at a time when oil was not even $30 — all these things you see… and that is not to say that there was no corruption in those days. And now we are selling oil at $108 per barrel. The Customs’ income is now almost N1 trillion. We have much more now, but, as we speak now, because of the level of corruption…no, there is plenty of money. Fuel subsidy went up from what we used to pay in Nigeria, which used to hover between N200 billion and N300 billion, to N2 trillion. And then somebody will tell you that there is no money. What is your economic ideology? Are you going to operate capitalist economy or what? Though the term ‘ideology’ is becoming unfashionable across the world, because of the way the world economy has evolved over time, is it going to be heavy government’s investment or are you going to be encouraging the private sector to take the lead in the economy? We are going to run a government that works — what works is what we are going to be doing. I am not going to tell you that we would do capitalism or socialism. No. But every government must invest heavily in infrastructure; it must invest. Let me give you an example to tell you that, for the American government, everything is private-sector-led. If the internet itself was not endorsed by the government, we would not have the Google and the Facebook of this world. The government does what people cash into. You create the enabling environment, create a superstructure that private people cannot just do on their own because of huge resources required to do it; you do it to create or to liberalise the sector. Typically, the internet was developed by the American government. Of course, even though it has changed the world it is America that is affected the most. Let me take the case of Abuja now. If we waited for the private sector to come and build hotels in Abuja, there would have been no Hilton and Sheraton in Abuja. The initial idea was… there was one businessman who was supposed to partner with the government to build it but, eventually, the idea couldn’t sail through. Imagine that Abuja was built without a five-star hotel. So the government would have to be involved in aspects of our lifestyle that private-sector people can’t do, or that are too big for the private sector. That is one. Secondly, I told you we are going to encourage the creation of superstructure; that is private sector. But there is no way you see the private sector doing very, very well that the government has not created the enabling environment. In the UK or the US, there are places you go and you tell them you want to start a factory somewhere, and they will even provide you with the building free of charge. That is the kind of thing I mean — things that will encourage people to jumpstart them. That’s how South Korea did become what it is now with the Hyundai, the Daewoo, the Samsung and so on. It is massive support from government; it is not for you to go and give them cash. No, it’s far from that. For instance, there is a gentleman that created a competition to iPad in Nigeria, four years ago. Yes, he did it. What stops the government from ordering large quantity of that, even if it’s is not good enough, even if it is not as good as iPad? One guy from one place in the South-West — I have his name somewhere. Somebody that will go that far has a passion for success. If you patronise him, even if it is not good enough, even if you are going to lose part of that money, the multiplier effects on many of such people will change this country. That is how South Korea developed — massive support from the government. We keep hearing every time that somebody has developed this and another developed that. How is the government helping these talents to prosper? Let’s not even talk about this government because they are not doing anything. But there are several ways the government must be involved in encouraging the private sector, because the private sector creates the jobs. Sir, you said you have been meeting with some members of your party on your ambition. What have been their responses to your quest? I have been meeting everybody, not just members of our party. And, of course, I have been attending meetings of the APC. Yes, but I am not trying to be the president of APC; I am working to be the president of Nigeria and so I am talking to everybody across the country. What have been their responses? Very good, very good. It’s fine. You also go for consulting sometimes, not just looking for endorsements. I told you before that, even before I started consulting, people called me to say that you have to do this. And, of course, there is consultation. I tell everybody including people who, because of certain parochial interests, do not even see things in the national interest. We still tell them, because we have to talk to everybody. Reading your past columns, one knows that one of the people that you hold in very high esteem is Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. Though he has not come out to say that he is contesting again, some people are assuming that he may emerge as the presidential candidate of your party, APC. So, are you going to be contesting against him during the party primaries? When you informed him about your ambition, what was his response? I think what you mean is that he may contest, not emerge as presidential candidate. Because presidential candidates emerge after the primaries. Well, what I know as at now — and that is also what I work on — is that what he said before now was that he was not contesting again. Now, many people including me are no longer sure, though he has the right to contest. There was one joke he cracked a few years ago that we all laughed over: ‘There is only minimum age to contest, there is no maximum age.’ I give that to him! Secondly, yes, everybody knows that I hold Buhari in very high esteem. Not just that, I believe that he should have been president since 2003. Not just that I believe it; I staked my life on that. I am sure you know. He remains my role model in politics, but he was actually the first person I told when I finally made up my mind, because I did not want people to mismanage that information. But I am sure that, even by the time I told him, he must have heard; because he was not surprised and I did not expect him to say ‘don’t do it’. He said the things I should go and do and I did and, after that, I told some people about him, also for the same reason. I said I didn’t want people to mismanage the information even if he wasn’t a prospective candidate, as I have told him because of our past relationship. Anyway, we are still close. I tell people that I am still a member of the TBO (The Buhari Organisation). We are pioneer members, but I don’t really see a problem, as long as it is not mismanaged. I am not going to allow anybody to mismanage it. Yes, I am going to contest. I don’t know whether he will contest or not but, whether he will contest or not, it will not stop me from contesting, because I don’t just see any problem there. Sir, why APC? Why not any other party? PDP is totally out of the question. I don’t believe in the same things that they believe. I’m sure if there was no merger, I would have contested on the platform of the CPC. But of course the merger has come. I don’t know whether it will be fair to say I was the first to start talking about the merger, both privately and publicly — I had written about it in articles, about why opposition parties must merge. Now Nigerians believe that APC should win; now APC can win. Anybody who told you that CPC, Action Congress of Nigeria or ANPP would win the presidency was joking. So I have always belonged to this platform. Though I was in CPC, I was also very close to almost everybody in the ACN, and I was probably one of the few people on this platform who were not fighting with this person or fighting with that person. Your party’s congresses have barely been concluded and they have crises in some state chapters, and party members are anxious. They think there should be a platform that should give PDP a very strong run for its money, that the APC seems to be falling apart, and that some members are joining the other parties. Are you anxious too? No, no no. I am not. In fact, you said APC is falling apart. No, no, no, APC is not falling apart at all. I agree with you that, with what is happening now, some people are going back to the PDP. All the crises are being resolved. It is usual in a normal setting where human beings are involved, but I don’t see it as a threat. I cannot call it a threat. There are challenges we must face, because three and more parties or so came together from different backgrounds to fuse. We are not going to sit and pretend that there will not be challenges. But so far, APC has done very, very well. Yes, there were issues from the congresses but everybody is determined to solve the problem. We are solving the problems. Sir, looking at your background, education, age, no office baggSir, you are a Christian from the northern part of the country and you are part of the group people believed to belong to another minority. Do you think this will work for you in this race? First, I have never seen myself as a minority in any way. I have never, as an individual. If you call yourself a minority it connotes some disadvantage. Since my childhood, I have never seen myself as a minority because there is nothing that I wanted to get that I did not work hard to get and, trusting God, get it. So I don’t see myself as a minority because of the place that I come from. I am not contesting this election as a Christian candidate or as a northerner; I intend to contest the election for the President of Nigeria as a candidate of the APC. I am a Nigerian who happens to be a northerner and a Christian. Nobody can define me through those terms. I feel comfortable that way, maybe it is because of the way I was brought up and I have friends everywhere. I was born in Minna, my primary school was in Kaduna, secondary school in Kaduna. I went to the University of Ife, I went to Ondo State to do my youth service, and so on. I joined Pfizer, stayed in Lagos for some time. So I have never seen those things as issues and I hope that people will listen to what we have to offer. People will understand that the situation we find ourselves in the country now, we have to get out of it alive. And all those sentiments – ‘you have to vote for me because I am a Christian’ or ‘you have to vote for that other guy because he is pagan’, or you want to vote for him because he is a Muslim – those things have taken us to these problems in this country. Those things do not mean anything to me, but that does not mean I am not a proud Christian or northerner. No. For many years now, you have maintained a regular column on the back page of your newspaper, LEADERSHIP. Some people believe that you are using that column to attack the leadership of today much, that the tone of your column is somehow too harsh on the government of the day, starting from the days of Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, and now to President Goodluck Jonathan. What can you tell those with this belief? Do you think with the kind of thing we have on ground now I need to respond to those people? Do you sincerely think so? The question should be, Why am I not harsher? Look at what is happening in this country: there is nothing I have said from Obasanjo’s time that has not come to pass. Those that are saying that, ‘Ah, Sam, you are too harsh,’ I pity them. You can’t hate yourself that much. See what they are doing to your country and you are saying I am too harsh. In fact, I can tell you, 85 per cent of Nigerians — and foreigners – are thankful for that. Now as I speak, many foreigners come into the country and they call and want to see me to ask these questions because, according to them, I saw these things a long time ago. I mean it is clear, but there are still a small number of people – maybe less than 1 per cent – who say that Sam is harsh. Though they are few, but can somebody hate himself that badly? Look at what has happened to this country. In all of this, what is your biggest aspiration for Nigeria, if elected? In fact, if elected we intend to make Nigeria a First World nation in five years. That is very big aspiration. Yes, but I can tell you, like I have always said before, if countries that have no means to achieve this – like Singapore – do, why can’t we? Singapore had nothing but they did it because they had a prime minister who exhibited leadership and was serious, committed and not stealing their money. If Singapore can achieve it, we can achieve it with good leadership. If India can do it, we can do it too. It’s a question of having a visionary leader.