Leadership Newspaper MD Azu Ishiekwene Resigns

The first managing director and group managing director of LEADERSHIP Group, Mr. Azubuike Ishiekwene, will step down from the post from January 30, 2015.

He would, however, remain with the company as executive consultant after his resignation.

In a letter to the founder/chairman, Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah, in September, Azu said, “It’s been a great honour and privilege for me to serve in the last four years.

“We’ve been through truly exciting and challenging times, innovating and responding with speed to the disruptions in our operating environment.

“I am honoured to serve under your leadership and to have done so with a committed and dedicated team. I thank everyone.

“When we say LEADERSHIP is the country’s most influential newspaper today, it’s not a slogan. It’s the reality in the most important centres of power in the country today where the day never starts or ends without influencers finding out what LEADERSHIP is saying.

“We have earned a reputation as the platform that speaks truth to power, while looking out for the weak and vulnerable. It’s a humbling legacy.

“I’ll also like to mention, sir, that in a world where convergence is the currency, LEADERSHIP’s digital assets have grown from number 36 in international ranking tables to number five today, retaining the undisputed number one position in the north for the last two and a half years.

“I’m grateful for the new position of executive consultant that I have been offered and believe that the company’s brightest years are still in front of it.”

In his response, Nda-Isaiah thanked Azu on behalf of the Board, saying he had shown true professionalism and commitment to his work.

“You’ve done well in the last years and should get a second term,” he said. “But since you don’t want to do that, I think we’ll have to put you on pension! I wish you well.”

Azu first joined LEADERSHIP as a consultant in October 2010 after he resigned from PUNCH as executive director, publications.

He formally joined LEADERSHIP as its first managing director in January 2011.

He is a board member of the Paris-based Global Editor’s Network and a fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors. A former chair of the CNN Multichoice judging panel, he is also an editorial board member of the World Policy Journal.