PANDEF LEADER: Chief Edwin Clark takes a final bow at 97.

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By Iheanyi Chukwudi

Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), and foremost Ijaw nationality leader, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, has passed away. He was aged 97.

His demise came barely three days after the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere Leader, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, died on Friday.

Recall that another Nigerian elder statesman and President General of Ohanaeze Ndígbo Worldwide, Chief Dr. Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu died and was buried on November 1, 2024.

The nonagenarian and former Federal Commissioner for Information's death was confirmed by a family representative, Prof. C. C. Clark, in a statement on Tuesday.

His statement reads, “The Clark-Fuludu Bekederemo family of Kiagbodo Town, Delta State, wishes to announce the passing of Chief (Dr.) Sen. Edwin Kiagbodo Clark OFR, CON on Monday, 17th February 2025. The family appreciates your prayers at this time. Other details will be announced later by the family."

Late Chief Clark, and Pa Adebanjo, who died at the age of 96 were both regional leaders and staunch supporters of Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), in the 2023 general election in Nigeria on the ground that it was the turn of the South East.

The PANDEF Leader, was a member of the defunct constitutional conference hosted by former President Goodluck Jonathan, in 2014, and also attended the Greater Nigeria Conference (GNC), which was held in Abuja in 2022, to deliberate on the emergence of the next Nigerian President from the South East, a conference Pa Adebanjo was also present.

Clark, a lawyer, served as Commissioner for Education in the Mid-Western Region from 1968 to 1971, and later as Commissioner for Finance and Establishment in the defunct Bendel State between 1972 and 1975. He devoted much of his adult life in advocating for the welfare of the Niger Delta area, fighting for better life for the oil-bearing communities.

He was appointed Commissioner for Information in 1975 and subsequently became a Senator from 1979 to 1983, and was a leading voice for regional and national unity working in mediating peace among warring communities and politicians in the Niger Delta region.

Perhaps, his last peace move was the setting up of a committee headed by a former Akwa Ibom Governor Obong Victor Attah, Co-Chairman, PANDEF Board of Trustees (BOT) to reconcile Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his erstwhile political godfather Nyesom Wike.