By Kelechi Amakoh
LEADERSHIP Newspapers Managing Director,Mr. Azubuike Ishiekwene is set to leave office January 30.
After a four-year stint as the newspaper’s boss, Azubuike noted his decision in a letter sent to the Founder/Chairman of LEADERSHIP GROUP, Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah.
In his letter, Azubuike expressed his term as LEADERSHIP’s boss as a ‘great privilege’ stating how the paper has earned a’humble legacy and reputation’ in the country.
While thanking the Chairman on his new position as an executive consultant, Azubuike expressed optimism ‘that the company’s brightest years are still in front of it.’
His letter reads thus: “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 rankingtables 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,”he concluded.
Responding to his letter, Mr. Nda-Isaiah commended his stellar performance during the four years.
“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,” Nda-Isaiah noted.
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.
The 49-year-old Azu as he is fondly called joined ”Punch in 1989 (after serving as an intern in 1986) and has at various times been staffreporter, 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 journaliat is a board member of the Paris-based Global Editor’s Network,fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors and a former chair of the CNN Multichoice judge
