•••Says His Legacies will Continue to Endure
By Attah Ede
The Pan Niger Delta Forum has marked the first anniversary of the passing of its revered national leader and elder statesman, late Chief Edwin Clark, saying that the Ijaw leader remain a national icon and statesman whose legacy will continue to endure.
In an emotional tribute released on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, PANDEF recalled Clark’s 98 years of “labour and devotion to building our nation Nigeria,” in which he championed truth, justice, fairness, and harmony.
The forum noted his final words: “I am a Nigeria, I love Nigeria.”
PANDEF’s National Chairman, Amb. Godknows Igali, who personally signed the tribute, stressed that Pa Clark’s transformative role in the Niger Delta and South-South region would continue to resonate.
“Your toil for the unity, solidarity, national relevance of the Niger Delta, yes the entire South-South geopolitical zone will for endless generations be celebrated and adulated,” Igali wrote.
“Clark was a “game changer” whose “memory and voice remained firm, astute and unfailing till the torch-line. “Like a lion, your courage was unmatched and resonated large and wide.”
The tribute affirmed that Clark’s vision “on all fronts remains aglow and the zeal shall certainly not flounder.”
A special memorial service held on Monday at Edwin Clark University in Kiagbodo, where PANDEF urged: “Rest on dear daddy, ‘Gogorogo’.”
Pa Clark, who died on February 17, 2025, at 98, left an indelible mark on Nigeria’s political landscape, particularly in advocating for better standard of living and development for the Niger Delta’.
