Ngbilebiri Kingdom, relatives mourn Pa Clark

Pere of Ngbilebiri Kingdom, HRM, Samuel Fuludu and siblings of of Late Pa Edwin Clark said that an indelible vacuum has been created by the departure of the South-South leader.

They spoke glowingly of the revered leader whose death reverberated across the nation.

The Immediate younger sister of late Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, Mrs Koshare Clark-Omo-Udoyo revealed that, her late elder brother, ensured that she was educated to her masters level against all odds.

Mrs Koshare Clark-Omo-Udoyo, 86, the only female amongst the five children of their mother gave this revelation while mourning her brother whom she spoke with two days before his death in Abuja.

According to her, "My father didn't prepare me for school because of their trade sojourn and as they were travelling to Umoru to buy their products, they asked me to drop at Okrika where my late brother, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark was the headmaster.

"I reluctantly came down from their boat crying and my brother Chief EK Clark sent some students to pick me at the river bank and put me into school.

"My close relationship started when my father and mother left me and I started school while stay with him, we are of same father and mother and he was the oldest who was already working before I started staying with him.

"Right from his youthful days, my brother was very outspoken, he never feared anybody, though my father was a very harsh man, but I didn't know where my late brother got his boldness.

"To him, I am a child and I will miss his scolding after which he will call you to do one or other things for him and you can not refuse.

"My brother probably decided to stay put in Abuja after he returned from a major treatment 

The traditional ruler of Ngbilebiri-Mein kingdom, HRM Prince Samuel Akpomiemie Fuludu, Ogiogio II, called for the immortalization of Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark by the state and federal governments respectively.

According him to the monarch, "Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark until his death is the traditional spokesperson of the Ngbilebiri-Mein kingdom and his vacuum will be difficult to fill because his kind is rare." He said.

In his appeal, the monarch appealed that the Federal government should create a local government headquarters or a federal High Court, in Kiagbodo in memory of the transited Niger Delta, South South and PANDEF sage.

Also the President General of Kiagbodo, Mr Paul Clark said, "Our father has passed on and before his passage, he instructed that we should celebrate him and that is what we are doing today.

"He fought to unite the country, he fought for Niger Delta and he said we should celebrate him and allow people to eat, drink and merry.

"He was a great man, the father of Niger Delta, national leader of the Ijaws who hates oppression but stood for the unity of Nigeria at all cost."

On her part, Step sister to Pa Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, Mrs Fine-Titi Ologbo-Clark disclosed that the vacuum left behind for the Bekederomo families by Pa Clark would be difficult to fill.

She said, "I don't know what to say because our father ensured that we are all educated and employed, he trained me to become a Nurse.

"Am short of words to describe the type of man he was, he took his family issues personal despite the huge national issues that were before him, while we mourn his passage, I am confident that his legacies will be remembered." She added.