The leadership of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) led by the National Chairman, Ambassador Dr. Godknows Igali, yesterday paid a courtesy visit to the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio in his office to officially inform him and by extension the 10th Senate of the passing of Pa Edwin Kiagbodo Clark.
Amb. Dr. Igali in his remark said the delegation was at the National Assembly to inform Akpabio as the most senior politician from the South-South, from Niger Delta that his father Chief Edwin Clark had passed on.
“We thought it is only proper and fit that having been a Senator himself, a senior politician, an elderstatesman of this country, it is right that we come to inform you.
“Besides the fact that he was from your part of the country, he was very close to you. When he was ill, we informed you. Papa was not sick for a long time,” Igali said.
Narrating the last hours of the elder statesman and his words that reverberated the room where he was being attended to, Igali said, “Chief Clark said in his last hours that the people must not have a ‘giving up spirit,’ assuring that they would surely succeed in making Nigeria a better society again.
“I am a Nigerian, I love Nigeria, Nigeria is my country, I am proud to be a Nigerian,” these were the last words of Pa Clark according to Igali and family sources.
“He loved Nigeria, and he consistently preached and fought for a better governance in Nigeria, based on justice, equity, care for all regardless of where you are from.
“History will remember him as a man who fought gallantly for the rights of the people of the Niger Delta, unity in diversity and true federalism,” Igali concluded.
Senate president Godswill Akpabio acknowledging the delegation and the purpose of the visit, said the Senate had agreed to send a strong delegation to go and condole with PANDEF, condole with the Clark family and the good people of Ijaw nation, Niger Delta as a whole and other Nigerians.
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“Pa Edwin Clark was not just any Nigerian. He was a Pan Africanist. We described him as an iconic leader. We described him also as a detrabilised Nigerian who fought particularly for the welfare of the minorities across Nigeria, not just in the Niger Delta.
“We have received the news now formally and I want to thank you for the honour that you have done to the National Assembly by coming as a delegation to let us know that yes indeed, our father is gone. The father of Nigeria. One of those who have made Nigeria what it is. Be assured the Senate will take part in all the burial activities,” Akpabio said.
Ijaw National Leader and elder statesman Senator Chief (Dr.) Edwin Kiagbodo Clark died on Monday 17 February, 2025 at DIFF Medical Centre, Abuja.
