Competition Begins on who succeeds Edwin Clark as Pan Delta Forum Leader
Who Succeeds Edwin Clark, according to
OpenLife Nigeria, reports that competition on who succeeds Senator Edwin Clark as leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, has started.
The leader of the group, Edwin Clark, died penultimate Monday.
Given political and economic considerations, to fill the vacuum created by the death of its convener and national leader, Senator Edwin Clark, is becoming hot going by the array of interests and interested groups.
Attah and Diete-Spiff co-equal in the PANDEF ranking
By official ranking, next to Pa Clark in PANDEF are the duo of the former military governor of old Rivers State, now a monarch, King Alfred Diete-Spiff, and a former governor of Akwa-Ibom State, His Excellency (Obong) Victor Attah.
Both are co-chairmen of the Board of Trustees, BoT, of the regional body, and they enjoyed equal leadership status under Clark.
South-South leaders led by Clark founded PANDEF in 2016, while Diete-Spiff and Attah were appointed co-chairmen of the BoT five years later, in 2021, to check some internal leadership rumblings in the region.
A source said between Obong Attah and King Spiff, none could claim to be the second-in-command to Clark while he was alive, so they could not make such a claim at his death.
In the PANDEF classification, the national chairman, a former federal permanent secretary, Ambassador Godknows Igali, comes next.
PANDEF set up a committee headed by Attah to reconcile Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his erstwhile political godfather Nyesom Wike, last year.
A top official of PANDEF in the South-South told this reporter: “Chief Clark is an exceptional variety, and the PANDEF will find it tough to get a man immediately to fill his place.
“As of this moment, the greatest legacy that Pa Clark is leaving behind is that PANDEF is an institution. Fortunately, he struggled very hard to ensure that PANDEF became a growing concern, and he ensured the replacement of national executives.
“Currently, we have new leadership at national and state levels. Ambassador Igali is the national chairman, and he is working. He understands what is expected of him because he was the secretary of the BoT and Chief Clark’s confidant.
“Obong Victor Attah and Diete-Spiff have been co-chairmen of PANDEF. Logically, the two of them have the onerous task of continuing the institution that Clark created. “So it may not be wise to center on a supposed person taking over from him (Clark) to an individual; rather, emphasis should focus on the institution he created. He was practically the moving force behind PANDEF.”
“Every hour you spend with him one-on-one is always fresh. If you met him this year and had met with him 50 years ago, this man remembers his first encounter with you. He can even relate to you verbatim your comments at that previous meeting.
“He was a living encyclopedia. His brain and voice were as sharp as when he was under -50 until his death.
“It was only his body that failed him, but intellect never failed him, even when he suffered eye problems because of old age. In the later part of his life, it was problematic for him to come down from the first floor to the parlor downstairs, so most times, we went to see him in his private bedroom.
“Once you enter the room and mention your name, he immediately remembers your name and mentions your voice. He is a blessing not only to the Niger Delta but Nigeria as a whole.”
A leader will be spiritually ordained at his burial — High Chief Sarah-Igbe
A former spokesman of PANDEF, High Chief Anabs Sarah-Igbe, said Clark left a huge vacuum with his death, and the regional group would talk about his successor after his burial.
Clark was the national leader naturally, but we have a BoT with two co-chairmen, Diete-Spiff and Obong Attah. After the duo, we have the national chairman, Ambassador Igali, who leads the PANDEF executive.
“We have the Advisory Council but not fully constituted, where we have the former Minister of Police Affairs, Chief Broderick Bozimo, and others; now that Clark is dead, we need to see how we can restructure the group to reflect his death.
“We will look at our structure. Clark is not just a leader of PANDEF, but he is also the leader of southern Nigeria. So, now that he has passed on, we will wait for him to be buried, and we expect that after that, we can start to talk about a successor.”
He recalled that “Clark did not bring himself to be leader, you see; when the former chairman of the Niger Delta Congress, the late Chief Harold Dappa-Biriye, died, Chief Clark was not in the country, and when he returned, he came and naturally, it evolves, and the mantle moved to him.”
“There are few persons he had mentioned when I die, you take over from me. He would tell you how he took over; a particular man came to his house early in the morning and asked him to swear he would not abandon the Ijaw struggle. The man came to him early in the morning with a local gin, and he offered libation that Clark would not die until he fulfilled his mission for the Ijaw nation.
Who Succeeds Edwin Clark As Pan Niger Delta Forum Leader? Hot Competition Begins
Late Edwin Clark
“However, that may not be the issue. By Ijaw tradition, when the time comes, the leadership will fly to another person; without knowing the person, he will start doing what he is expected to do.
“I believe that within burial, somebody will be ordained spiritually, and the person will come out and do what Clark is doing. And this is natural; when one person dies, another person comes up, so I believe God will bring another prophet who will do much more than Clark has done for the South-South, Niger Delta, southern Nigeria, Middle Belt Leaders Forum, and the entire Nigeria.
“I strongly believe that the South-South governors will support the burial of Chief Clark, for he is not just a South-South leader; he is a southern Nigerian and Nigerian leader.”
I cannot wear Clark’s shoes, says former President Jonathan
During a recent visit to Pa Clark’s home in Abuja, former President Goodluck Jonathan said, “The late elder statesman, Pa Edwin Clark, was a leader whose shoes are too big for anyone, including me, to fill.
“A friend from Benue State called me and asked me to take over Clark’s leadership role, but I told him clearly that his shoes were too big for my leg to fit into.
“He had the courage and boldness and could confront anybody even though he was from a minority group. He was not just a leader from the Ijaw ethnic nationality. He was a leader for Nigerians.
“When he was a federal commissioner, I was in primary school; therefore, you cannot ask me to fit into his shoes. He spoke to presidents and challenged them; he came out with fire and brimstone to challenge injustice.”
It is difficult — Diri, Bayelsa Governor
The governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, also said, “For us from his ethnic nationality, there are shoes that will be difficult for anybody to fill. We all know the man, the character called E. K. Clark.
“His last book was brutally frank, a man who tells you black is black and white is white. He gave leadership, and for us, it is difficult to find who can step into those shoes, and that is where we are now.”
A former deputy governor of Bayelsa State, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah, retired, wondered how the vacuum left by Clark could be filled with an equally fit and proper person from within and outside the region.
He prayed to God to “help us get someone like or even better than Pa Edwin Clark” in all ramifications.
Igali, Dickson, Ibori, Duke, Okaba, and others in the scramble
Sources hinted that PANDEF chairman, Ambassador Igali, and former governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, are among those tipped as Clark’s successor.
A former governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori; former governor of Cross River State, Chief Donald Duke; and President of the Ijaw National Congress, INC, Prof. Benjamin Okaba, are reportedly in the scramble.
Others are Chief Atedo Peterside, the Arusibidabo of Opobo Kingdom, a renowned economist and financial expert, and 84-year-old Chief Albert K. Horsfall, a retired Director with the Department of State Security Service, DSS, and pioneer Managing Director of the defunct Oil Mineral Producing and Development Company, OMPADEC.
