His has been a life of struggles and victories. His senses are still acutely intact; his cognition exceptional. At 93, this nonagenarian’s voice booms like thunder on a rainy day, reverberating across the Nigerian landscape. You cannot ignore him. You dare not. If you do so, it is at your peril. His accustomed famous bowler hat is ever perched on his grey hair, walking stick in hand, and a neck bedecked with drooping royal Ivie beads, worn on the Izon (not Ijaw) perforated lace long sleeve and George wrapper. He exudes the confidence of an accomplished boxer that corners his vanquished opponent in the ring. He cuts a fatherly figure. And he is a father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He does not suffer fools gladly. He is ever ready for debates and debaters – only meaningful debates – on the “National Question” and how to restructure Nigeria. He takes the battles (even wars), to his intellectual adversaries. He seldom loses. He never retreats. His mantra ism, no retreat, no surrender. A true leader that he is, he leads from the front, never from the rear. He commands utmost respect, even reverence. But he loathes bootlicking, sycophancy and servile fawning. You either love him passionately or hate him malevolently. There is hardly a middle course. 
That is Pa (Chief) Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, a potpourri of Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colours: Nationalist; pan-Nigerian; Izon leader; convener, Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF); founder, Edwin Clark University, Kiagbodo; legal luminary, astute politician; fearless crusader for justice; administrator, emancipator of his people; philanthropist extraordinaire and a civilian field marshal of many battles.
At well over 80 years in the past, he still frequented the marshy mangrove creaks laden with dangerous reptiles, to negotiate with Niger-Delta militants, to lay down their arms. The amnesty truce achieved during Presidents Umaru Yar’adua and Goodluck Jonathan’s era were partly his brain child.
A cult hero of his Izon people (and of the entire South-South), Chief Clark is only but a reincarnation of his great-grandfather, Chief Bekederemo, a very wealthy and educated merchant. Chief Bekederemo, owner of a steamship boat and an expensive palace, fought battles on behalf of the poor, reducing prices of commodities.
Genealogically, the Clark dynasty is a big orchard that has produced many great personality trees, Iroko, Mahogany, Obeche, Oak, Neem, Cedar, Aloe vera, etc. Chief Bekederemo gave birth to Clark’s grandfather, Fuludu Bekederemo, who was himself a man of great substance, a notable politician and warrant chief. He attended the Conference of the Western Region Chiefs, held in Ibadan in 1941. Fuludu Bekederemo sired Chief Clark Fuludu, the father of Pa Chief E.K. Clark.
Clark Fuludu was a community leader and a wealthy merchant who traded in many coastal cities in the family tradition. He later became a councillor, then a judge of the Customary Court of Appeal, Bomadi. Knowing the importance of education, Chief Fuludu ensured that his children had the best. Pa Clark was, therefore, sent to school in Okrika, where his teacher, one Mr. Thompson Okitipi, gave him his English name, EDWIN.
It is said a fruit does not fall far away from its mother tree. It is no wonder then that the Fuludu Clark orchard has produced notable sons that have made the Nigerian and Izon nation’s very excited and proud. Just three samples: John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo (born April 6, 1935), alias J.P. Clark, is unarguably one of the finest writers and poets of our time. One of his most intriguing poems was his 1965 five-line epic (quintet) poem:
“Ibadan,
running splash of
rust and gold-
scattered among seven hills
like broken China in the sun.”
Analysts wondered whether this poem, which typified Ibadan’s old age, planlessness and rusty roofs was an ode to Ibadan in whose university he had schooled, or a literary criticism. Just five lines that showcased in a roll, anger, onomatopoeia, assonance and simile.
Another eminent product from the Fuludu Clark’s vineyard is the renowned career diplomat and former Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations, Ambassador Blessing Akporode Clark (born April 16, 1930). It is, therefore, clear that longevity runs in the family tree.
Pa Clark did not rely on his parental goodwill to rest on his oars. He attended primary and secondary school in Effurun, Delta State; Okrika and Afugbene; then Government Teacher Training College, Abraka. He worked his way up to become a councillor (as was his father). He went into teaching and became a headmaster. He, thereafter, travelled to London to study law. He joined NCNC in the UK while a student at Holborn College, and was elected secretary of the famous Zikist movement. He was prominent in the West African Students Union.
Chief Clark used law, in the words of the Professor Dean Roscoe Pound, as an instrument of social engineering, helping his Izon people against marginalisation by the larger Nigerian ethnic nationalities. He strenuously preached against the Nigeria-Biafra war, condemned the assassination of Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, just as he condemned the wanton pogrom that was visited on innocent Igbo residing in the North.
After the January 15, 1966, military coup, Clark was among a group of delegates from the Midwest who opposed any idea of confederation that cropped up at an ad hoc constitutional conference constituted by Gowon in 1966. His delegation preferred a united Nigeria, rather than a loose federation.
The then Midwest Governor, Colonel Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia, soon appointed Chief Clark Commissioner for Education, and later for Finance and Establishment. Kiagbodo used his vantage position to open Ijaw waterlands; built new secondary schools and gave girls scholarships to attend secondary and tertiary institutions.
Chief Clark helped in building the Midwest College of Technology that later metamorphosed into the University of Benin (after failure of several efforts to affiliate the fledgling school to the University of Ibadan and Ife). He was later appointed Pro-Chancellor, chairman, governing council of the university (1970-1975). While still serving as commissioner under Ogbemudia, the then Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, appointed Clark Commissioner for (Minister of) Information, a position he held till Gowon was overthrown in the General Murtala Muhammed coup of July 30, 1975.
My first close contact with this living legend was at the 2005 National Political Reform Conference convoked by President Olusegun Obasanjo. I headed the civil society sub-group that included Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, Senator Smart Adeyemi, Senator Shehu Sani and other great Nigerians. At the conference, Chief Clark was unanimously appointed leader by the entire South-South delegates. In my absence, I was unanimously appointed the publicity secretary and spokesperson of the entire Southern Delegates Forum. Chief Clark led us most admirably. He fought hard for a properly structured federation; devolution of powers; and a fair and equitable derivation formula of at least 25% to the oil-bearing states. Other ethnic and geo-political groups (especially from the North) even rejected the 18% that was proposed as a compromise. Clark had no option but to lead the great boycott of southern delegates that was termed the “First Walk Out.”
The very problems Clark fought against still re-echoed at the 2014 National Conference convoked by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. I was a Federal Government delegate (“Addendum”, because I was later included, upon public clamour, after my initial unjust exclusion by some powerful forces). Chief Clark was again unanimously elected the automatic leader by the South-South delegates.
He led us like a true leader and an untiring Trojan. He preached words of wisdom about unity and peace. But, he emphasised there cannot be genuine peace without social justice, egalitarianism and mutual respect among the 374 ethnic groups of Nigeria (Prof. Onigu Otite). His seat was a Mecca of some sort at the Nigerian Judicial Institute (NJI) venue of the conference, attracting the high, low and leaders of other ethnic groups. His pivotal role in achieving the over 600 recommendations by the 492 delegates of the conference (which have since been unfortunately shelved by this government) remain inerasable.
The former pro-chancellor and chairman of council of the Federal University of Technology, Minna (1983), was elected senator in Bendel State (now Edo and Delta states). Clark has criticised many leaders across Nigeria over corruption matters and inept leadership. He decries the Almajiri caste system and poverty in the North, all of which he ascribes to poor leadership of some northern political elites.
Chief Clark believes in true fiscal federalism as handed down by our founding fathers, where each federating unit produced its resources, paid appropriate royalties and taxes to the central government and developed according to its pace and needs, as was the case before the 15th January, 1966, military putsch, led by Major Kaduna Nzeogwu Chukwuma. This true federal arrangement recognises our heterogeneous diversities in religion, culture, language, ethnicity and gender.
Pa Clark speaks truth to power, leaving no stone unturned and no turn unstoned. That Pa Clark is an enigma is saying the obvious. At 86, he shocked all by marrying a beautiful wife. He did not just go for any bride. On March 27, 2013, he married delectable Chief (Dr.) Abisola Sodipo-Akindeko, an Egba princess and the Iyaloja of Oke-Ona, Egbaland. The society wedding was solemnised at the bride’s Okupe, Maryland, and Pa Clark’s Apapa residences, both in Lagos. It brought to Lagos, royalty, glitz, glamour and celebrities. Two things were quite significant: First, Oba (Dr.) Adedapo Tejuosho, the Osile of Oke-Ona, who handed over the royal princess to Clark in wedlock, symbolically returned the bride price to Pa Clark, because Clark is a “man capable of taking care of our daughter.”
Second: When asked why she married Clark in spite of his advanced age of 86, Princess Abisola said, “he is God-fearing, caring, wonderfully affectionate and he is a man of God. I am very happy to be with him.” The Egba princess said it all.
King Solomon’s Proverb 22:29 best describes Pa Clark: “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before Kings; he shall not stand before mean men.” John Ruskin once reminded us that “the test of a truly great man is in his humility.” Pa Clark has humility in agglomeration. He bandies with younger people like me as if we were mates, when discussing national issues. Let me assure Pa Clark that heroes like him are never forgotten. In the words of Thomas Carlyle, “no great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great men.”
Pa Clark lives on, in history. I wish you another whopping 27 years on earth, to fulfil Genesis 6:3. Papa, you have struggled all your life. Because you have “planted in tears, (you) will harvest with shouts of joy” (Psalm 126:5). The “peace of God which passeth all understanding” (Phil: 4:7) is yours now and forever more, amen. Happy birthday, Papa.
Thought for the week
“There never was a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous.”
– Benjamin Franklin