Azubuike Ishiekwene back as LEADERSHIP E-I-C

Former Managing Director of LEADERSHIP Newspapers, Mr Azubuike Ishiekwene is back in the company as Editor-In-Chief (E-I-C)

His re-appointment followed the reorganisation of the board of the newspaper after the death of the Founder/Chairman of the Leadership Group, Mr Sam Nda-Isaiah on November 11, 2020.

Ishiekwene a former Executive Director of Punch Newspapers, had a four-year stint in Leadership which ended in January 2015.

The new Chairman of the company is the widow of the late Publisher, Mrs Zainab Nda-Isaiah, while the directors are Mike Okpere, Muazu Elazeh and Abraham Nda-Isaiah.

“ I pray his coming will work well for LEADERSHIP this time. When he was with LEADERSHIP the first time, he brought in so many innovations, but LEADERSHIP wasn’t ready for it then. This maybe is the right time,” a former staff of the newspaper who declined to be named said.

Although he continued to write his column after leaving as Managing Director, he launched The Interview Magazine.

It was learnt that the decision to have Ishiekwene back in the company was informed by the desire of the widow of the publisher to have a very capable media manager to help sustain the husband’s legacies.

“Having served as consultant and Managing Director of the company before and performed creditably well, Azu is the right persons to serve in the position in the position he has been offered,” a media analyst said.

READ ALSO: WHY THE MEDIA IS IN TROUBLE -AZU

A 1988 graduate of Mass Communication from the University of Lagos, Azubuike was the Executive Director, Publications, The Punch Newspaper before joining LEADERSHIP in October 2010 as a consultant.

Azu as he is fondly called joined ”Punch in 1989 (after serving as an intern in 1986) and has at various times been staff reporter, investigative reporter, features writer, senior features writer, deputy features editor, features editor, and deputy editor of Toplife magazine (a Punch publication).

He was also a member of the Punch editorial board and Editor of Saturday Punch between 1996 and 2001.

He was editor of the company’s flagship paper and daily title, The Punch, between 2002 and 2006, when he was appointed Executive Director, Publications, with direct oversight functions for the company’s three titles –

Sunday Punch, Saturday Punch and The Punch.

The multi-award-winning journalist was a board member of the Paris-based Global Editor’s Network, a fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors and a former chair of the CNN Multichoice award panel.