By EgbemaVoice,
Niger Delta Progressive Youth Leadership Foundation (ND-PYLF), wishes to announce and declare to all State chapters leadership across the Niger Delta Region that , we have unanimously agreed that, every 17th of February, has been recognised as our IROKO and Iconic leader late Pa Edwin Clark kiagbodo Remembrance Day.
In fact, Pa Edwin Clark was born on the 25th of May 1927, and died on the 17th of February 2025 at the Age of 97. He was a Nigerian Ijaw leader and politician from Delta State, who worked with the administrations of the military governor Samuel Ogbemudia and head of state, General Yakubu Gowon between 1966 and 1975.
In 1966, he was a member of an advisory committee to the military governor of the Mid-Western Region province, David Ejoor and was appointed Federal Commissioner of Information in 1975.
Pa Clark's involvement in the political process began during the pre-independence period when he was elected as Councillor for Bomadi in 1953. Clark later joined the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). While a student at Holborn College, he was active in the West African Students' Union.
After the military coup of January 1966, Clark was among a group of delegates from the Mid-West who opposed any ideas of confederation that were raised at an ad-hoc constitutional conference set up by Gowon in 1966. The delegation's mandate was Nigerian unity and when proposals of a loose federation were tabled, the region's delegates asked for adjournment.
Clark was later appointed Midwestern Commissioner of Education and later, Finance from 1966 to 1975. As commissioner for education, he was active in the establishment of a Mid-west College of Technology that became the foundation of the University of Benin. During the second republic, he was a member of the national executive committee of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and was the treasurer of the party in Bendel State (now, in part, Delta State and previously the Mid-Western Region province).
In 1983, he was an elected senator for three months at the twilight of the Shagari administration.
In 2016, Clark founded the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) along with other critical stakeholders across the Niger Delta Region.
The organisation's objective is "to dialogue with stakeholders and lobby for increased attention and implementation of restructuring, development and security policies by the Government of Nigeria.
Pa Clark was an unofficial adviser to former President Dr. Goodluck Ebelle Jonathan. He was a philanthropist who founded the Edwin Clark Foundation and established a university in his hometown known as Edwin Clark University, Kiagbodo, Delta State Nigeria in 2015.
ND-PYLF hereby recognised 17th of Every February as IROKO Pa Edwin Clark kiagbodo Remembrance Day. this day will be significant to all Pa Clark kiagbodo fellowship and to mark his eminent Legacy in the Ijaw Nation, Niger Delta Region and Nigeria at large.
Chief Diplomat Adam.E.O.O.Marbo,
National President ND-PYLF.
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