Leadership is a daily national newspaper published by Leadership Newspaper Group, based in Abuja

Abuja

Abuja is the capital city of Nigeria. It is located in the centre of Nigeria, within the Federal Capital Territory . Abuja is a planned city, and was built mainly in the 1980s. It officially became Nigeria's capital on 12 December 1991, replacing Lagos...

, Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

.
On its website, the paper asserts: "We shall stand up for good governance. We shall defend the interests of the Nigerian state even against its leaders and we shall raise our pen at all times in defence of what is right. These are the values by which we intend to be assessed".

On 9 January 2007 a dozen State Security Service

State Security Service

State Security Service is the primary domestic intelligence agency of Nigeria. It is primarily responsible for the gathering of intelligence within the country and for the protection of senior government officials, particularly the President and state governors. It is one of three successor...

 agents stormed the Leadership offices and arrested general manager Abraham Nda-Isaiah, editor Bashir Bello Akko and journalist Abdulazeez Sanni. The cause was an article written by journalist Danladi Ndayebo that discussed the political maneuvers in the ruling People's Democratic Party

People's Democratic Party (Nigeria)

The People's Democratic Party is a political party in Nigeria. Its policies generally lie towards the right wing of the political spectrum. It has won every single Presidential elections since 1999, namely: 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011, and is the dominant party in the Fourth Republic.-History:In...

 (PDP) party that led to nomination of Umaru Musa Yar'Adua

Umaru Musa Yar'Adua

Umaru Musa Yar'Adua was the President of Nigeria and the 13th Head of State. He served as governor of Katsina State in northern Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 28 May 2007. He was declared the winner of the controversial Nigerian presidential election held on 21 April 2007, and was sworn in on 29 May...

 as presidential candidate.
On 6 May 2008 a squad of armed, plain-clothed policemen from the Niger State

Niger State

Niger State is a state in the western part of Nigeria and the largest state in the country. The state capital is Minna, and other major cities are Bida, Kontagora, and Suleja. It was formed in 1976 when the then North-Western State was bifurcated into Niger State and Sokoto State.The state is named...

 Command raided the Leadership head office and arrested the deputy editor, Danladi Ndayebo, apparently without any warrant. According to the editor, Prince Charles Dickson, the cause was a feature article said to have defamed the character of Senator Isa Mohammed

Isa Mohammed (Nigerian senator)

Senator Isa Mohammed is a Nigerian politician who was elected to the national senate to represent the Niger Central constituency in April 1999, and was reelected in April 2003....

.

In December 2009 The Nigerian Union of Journalists name Leadership "Newspaper of the Year". The award was accepted by Abraham Nda-Isaiah, its Group Executive Director.
In a restructuring effective 1 January 2011, Azubuike Ishiekwene

Azubuike Ishiekwene

Azubuike Ishiekwene was the former executive director of Punch Nigeria until an internal financial scandal in March, 2010 led to his departure from the newspaper. He holds a Masters degree in Public Administration and International Affairs from University of Lagos and a B.Sc in Mass Communications...

 was appointed the first managing director of LEADERSHIP Newspapers, while Abraham Nda-Isaiah became managing director of LEADERSHIP Holdings.
Ishiekwene had formerly been editor of The Punch

The Punch

The Punch is a Nigerian daily newspaper. It is the second largest newspaper in the country in terms of circulation, with 80,000 copies published daily in 1999.-History:...

, and then managing director of that newspaper.
In the April 2011 elections Golu Timothy, a former editor of the newspaper, was elected to the State House of Assembly in the Kanke Constituency of Plateau State

Plateau State

Plateau State is the twelfth largest state of Nigeria, and is roughly located in the center of the country. It is geographically unique in Nigeria because its boundaries totally surround the Jos Plateau, having the Jos Plateau totally in its central and northern part...

. He ran on the PDP platform. Golu was reported to be seeking the position of Speaker in the Plateau House of Assembly.