By Aare Afe Babalola,
“Every time we learn of someone’s passing, regardless of age, it serves as a reminder of how fleeting life is. We lose more than just body and soul when someone passes away. We lose each person’s unique characteristics, availability, and presence. We lose the knowledge and insight needed to navigate the present, which is the key to the past, when an elderly person passes away”. Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo
The above quotation by Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo is very true and apposite with the departed Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, OFR, CON, a prominent Ijaw Leader, former Federal Commissioner for Information, a critic of the deepest dye, a well-rounded freedom fighter, and a firm believer in an indivisible Nigeria, who has gone home to join the Saints Triumphant.
That Chief Clark, the Leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), has boarded the flight to eternity at the age of 97 is particularly touching, bearing in mind that his passage came less than a week after Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the distinguished leading light in Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba Socio-cultural organization and former Organizing Secretary of the defunct Action Group, AG, passed on into eternal glory.
Chief Clark, the departed hero, brother, friend and compatriot as well as a protagonist of action, orderliness and decency, has been a man after my heart in many ways since our path crossed each other. He was a courageous and fearless lawyer who was willing and ready to offer his comments on critical national issues.Unknown to many, the departed hero was a lawyer.
This had enabled me to see him at work. I also saw him at play. I interacted with him in the court and outside the court and found him to be a genial and a true believer in the fact that Nigeria can indeed become great if it is run under a an appropriate constitution similar to what we had during the golden era of the First Republic when being a Legislator was seen as service to the people as against the present humongous salaries and allowances allocated to the country’s legislators and when politics will not be the only lucrative business in town
What stands this Nationalist out is his patriotism, determination, selflessness and his strength of character to use his office, and indeed his all, for the achievement of the good of the majority.
In his lifetime, he appreciated that Nigeria was a country of nations with many languages, religions, values and mores, waiting to be galvanized into a country, properly so-called, to the advantage of all.
During his lifetime, it was not difficult for anyone that came his way to appreciate his palpable coolness, calmness and his willingness to help others around him. He was indeed an unusual person with a burning desire for hard work in every sense of the word.
The departed Patriot and Nationalist of uncommon depth who played his part very well will be missed by all. He will be particularly missed for his uncommon humility, diligence and his unpretentious love for an indivisible Nigeria and its peoples for which History will etch his name in letters of gold. Indeed, History will be kind to him.
Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about his demise as we are all tenants in this world, and we are bound to go when our tenancy expires. This is one of the areas the Almighty God has demonstrated his Almightiness to man as no man, no matter how highly placed, knows when, where and how he would die.
But as traumatizing as the news of his departure is, we are consoled by the fact that the departed compatriot lived a most fulfilled life and imparted his immediate community of South-South, Nigeria, and the country at large, thereby leaving his giant steps on the sand of times.
It is my fervent prayer that all that all the revered Chief Clark worked for whist still with us on planet earth will stand him in good stead before The Maker of All Things.
While wishing him a most-deserved rest, I pray that God will grant the nation, the Nigerian Bar, the South-South Geo-political Zone which he doggedly fought for and the entire Clark Dynasty of Kiagbodo Town of Delta State the grace and the equanimity to bear the irreparable loss.
And now that he is gone, I hope people will not forget what he stood for, what stood for him, what he fought for and all his good works in a hurry.The entire Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, ranked by the UK-based Times Higher Education Impact Rankings as No. 1 in the World in SDG 7, No. 1 in the World in Outreach with a score of 98%, No. 1 in the World in Stewardship with a score of 98.2%, and No. 1 among all the 264 Federal, State, and Private universities in Nigeria for three consecutive years: 2022, 2023 and 2024, commiserate with you. Accept our heart-felt condolences please.
Courtesy:Aare Afe Babalola, OFR, CON, SAN, LL. D (London), LL. D (UNILAG), LL. D (UI) etc, D. Lit (NDA), FNIALS, FNSE, Fellow, King’s College, LondonFounder & Chancellor