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Tag: Chief Edwin Clark

  • Nigeria’s restructuring is a must – Clark

    Nigeria’s restructuring is a must – Clark

    Ijaw Leader,  Chief Edwin Clark has declared that restructuring of Nigeria is a must for economic growth and development.
    Clark, a former national commissioner who addressed the press in Abuja on Wednesday on the perceived lopsidedness in the federal government owned oil companies, said the country cannot continue as it is now.
    He said a situation where states continue to come to Abuja monthly to collect money is very bad.
    “When we restructure this country, you look at what you produce in your area. What is going on today is very very bad. It is not good enough, where people leave their states to Abuja to collect money without knowing where that money comes from. They don’t want to look back.
    ” In our last constitutional conference, we said that five per cent of our fund should be devoted to exploring other mineral resources.
    “Tell me one state in this country that can pay the salaries of their staff. Is it not a shame? Is that a country?  where states go to beg for money and at the end, he who pays the piper, dictates the tunes. So you are making the Federal Government more powerful. That is why devolution of powers is very very necessary.
    “But let us have a restructuring of this country. So that I know what is been produced in my area, you know what is been produced in your area so therefore if your state is not viable continuously dissolve it, join other people. We can not continue like this. Work for twelve months, working and have no pay. Nobody will take it, that is not a country, we are not running.
    “When people are talking about restructuring they know what they are talking about. We must restructure this country. And I am happy that everybody is now talking about restructuring. We are not talking restructuring to make some people our enemies or their enemies. Restructuring has been going on since 1945 in this country.
    “From Richard constitution to Macpherson  constitution,  to Littleton constitution, to independence.  Even during the military. Constituent assembly were held all for restructuring. Let them create a better Nigeria for all of us, for our children in particular.”
    Speaking on the perceived injustice and lopsidedness of appointment in NNPC and it’s subsidiaries which tends to favor the northern part of the country, Clark  insisted that recent appointments must be reversed for justice.
    He argued that a situation where the North corners 36 positions out of 55 as against 19 for the entire South is not acceptable.
    He therefore urged President Muhammadu Buhari to correct the lopsided in the appointments.
    He berated NNPC for deceiving the people in it’s  refutal of the allegation of lopsidedness in appointments.
  • Quit Notice: Clark-Led PANDEF calls on agitators to rescind threat

    Quit Notice: Clark-Led PANDEF calls on agitators to rescind threat

    The Chief Edwin Clark-led Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has called on the Coalition of Niger Delta Agitators to rescind its threat to commence destruction of oil and gas facilities as well as the quit notice to the Yoruba and Northerners resident in the oil-rich region.

    The call, which was contained in a statement issued and circulated to journalists in Warri yesterday by the PANDEF’s Coordinating Secretary, Dr Alfred Mulade, noted that the call and threat by the agitators were not viable options, especially as the body was already making progress in its peaceful approach.

    According to the statement, the PANDEF, led by Ijaw national Leader and elder statesman, Chief Clark, had in recent times engaged the federal government on critical issues concerning the peace and stability of the region, including the items raised on the famed 16-point agenda and most recently, on the issue of the appointments at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which had grossly marginalised the interest of the Niger Delta people.

    Assuring the restive agitators of the possibilities of the alternative peaceful approach, which it said its team had been working on, in conjunction with stakeholders from other regions of the country, the PANDEF, therefore urged them to rescind their threats and remain calm as all efforts to achieve restructuring and ultimate peace bring fruits forward.

    “We are also asking the Federal Government to revisit the various appointments recently made in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and all its subsidiaries, whereby Niger Deltans are grossly marginalized and excluded. Almost all the NNPC Board members,
    top and middle levels appointment are being held by northerners.

    “Of particular note now, are the recently made 55 appointments, for which we have made a strong case to government, for a reversal. This issue has been sufficiently addressed by our National Leader, Chief Dr. Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, and published in two pages, in the Vanguard
    Newspaper of Wednesday, September 6, 2017.

    “Destruction of oil and gas assets and quit notice to northerners and Yorubas to vacate the region and threat of secession are not viable options. PANDEF is at the forefront of the advocacy of restructuring of this country, as the most viable alternative which is being pursued with all vigour, in collaboration with the South-West, South-East, the Middle-Belt and some prominent personalities from the Northern parts of this country.

    “PANDEF therefore urges the Coalition of Niger Delta Agitators to rescind their threats of destruction, quit notice and secession, to remain calm, patient and patriotic, as we re-double our efforts towards the peaceful resolution of the challenges in the region, including the restructuring of the country along the lines of fiscal federalism,” the statement said.

  • Quit Notice: So-called militant groups don’t exist – Clark

    Quit Notice: So-called militant groups don’t exist – Clark

    Ijaw national leader and convener of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Chief Edwin Clark, has dismissed the groups who gave the October 1, 2017 quit notice to Yoruba and northerners resident in the South-South as nonexistent.

    In a telephone chat with the Nation in Warri Friday, Chief Clark who said all Nigerians had the freedom to live in any part of the country, as Nigeria is just one country, said those who gave the ultimatum had nobody’s mandate and had no such authority to give such quit notice to anyone.

    According to the elder statesman, he was one of the very first Nigerians to condemn the Arewa youths who issued an ultimatum to Indigbo earlier, saying that there was no way he could have permitted such action to take place in his own region.

    While he vehemently cautioned those behind the quit notice to desist and withdraw the ultimatum, Chief Clark advised the Yoruba and northerners resident in the Niger Delta to continue to live peacefully in the region.

    “I’ve already made a statement on that issue when Afenifere contacted me. Somebody represented me and I made a statement. As far as I’m concerned, Nigeria is our country, therefore anybody who is a Nigerian is free to live in any part of Nigeria. We even allow non-Nigerians to live in Nigeria, to do businesses of their choice.

    “Therefore, if we have one country, we cannot prevent anybody from living in any part of the country. I’ve already advised those who made that statement to withdraw it, besides they have no authority from anybody; no elder not even PANDEF.

    “The South-South, I mean PANDEF, has been having meetings with the Yoruba, the Indigbo and the people of the Middle-Belt in Lagos and Abuja, therefore we cannot say we don’t want the Yoruba or northerners.

    “I was one of the first people to condemn the quit notice by the Arewa youths, why will I allow such a thing in my territory. Nobody knows those boys; they are just arrogating the powers they don’t have to themselves so they can’t. Some groups have done that before, we advised them and they backed down.

    “The point I’m making is that all groups, including northerners, are welcome in the Niger Delta and that those people who made those threats have no authority from anybody, they don’t even exist and wherever they are we advised them in their own interest to withdraw their statement, if the do exist at all. But whether they do or not, they have no authority from anybody.

    “We the people in the Niger Delta; the elders, the women and the youths, welcome the Yoruba and northerners. Nobody knows those names in the newspapers. Let them come out to meet us, make their statement. They don’t exist”, Chief Clark said.

  • PANDEF VS PNDPC: There’s no coup, just leadership change – Ijaw Monarch

    PANDEF VS PNDPC: There’s no coup, just leadership change – Ijaw Monarch

    The Pan Niger Delta People’s Congress (PNDPC) has cited the failure of the Chief Edwin Clark-led Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) provide the needed leadership to represent the interests of the people of the oil-rich region.

    Leader of the PNDPC and paramount ruler of Seimbiri Kingdom in Burutu council area of Delta state, Pere Charles Ayemi-Botu, speaking in the company of other members of the new body in Warri on Monday, also debunked insinuations that the emergence of his group was a coup against Chief Clark, noting that the PNDPC was a child of circumstance, brought about by the demand of agitators who necessitated the birth of PANDEF.

    Meanwhile, the Chief Clark-led PANDEF had insisted that it remains the only body set up to represent the interest of the people of the Niger Delta, describing the PNDPC and its coordinator, Chief Mike Loyibo, as impostors.

    Speaking yesterday at the meeting set to formalise his group’s acceptance of the call to represent the interests of the Niger Delta region by agitators, Pere Ayemi-Botu said membership of the body is opened to all Niger Delta people, adding that they would soon commence an engagement with all stakeholders in the Niger Delta matters.

    “In the course of accepting our nomination and mandate, which also translates into the withdrawal of an earlier mandate given to a sister organisation, we must have widely and meticulously consulted our people and became convinced that resulting from the low success rates achieved so far in this struggle, a change in command and operational dynamics has become inevitable.

    “It is very sad to note that due largely to external and structural imperfections in Nigeria’s present federalism and the internal mismanagement of funds allocated for the development of the region, we have remained poor in all ramifications, in spite of our enormous contributions to the wealth of the Nigerian project.

    “This situation must be reversed. The Pan-Niger Delta People’s Congress must work more assiduously to usher in massive infrastructural and human capital development in the region”, the monarch said.

    Also speaking to journalists after the briefing, the Coordinator of the PCNPC, Chief Mike Loyibo, said the new body was convened by the agitators in the Niger Delta, believing that the people now selected to represent the region have the integrity to speak on their behalf without hiding anything from them.

    He said the new group has all the members that formed the core of the PANDEF, noting that all the people who started the PANDEF had all fallen back to PNDPC.

    It would be recalled that the PANDEF, in a statement issued by its Coordinating Secretary, Dr Alfred Mulade, had written off the PNDPC as an impostor group, calling on the government not to heed its antics.

    “PANDEF remains a not-for-profit, non-political and non-religious regional organisation, with its members cut across all political, cultural and religious divides, the undisputed voice of the region, and certainly not a platform for seeking political, social or pecuniary tendencies, as some persons would want to erroneously think.

    “PANDEF hereby urges the government and all stakeholders to be wary of the intents and activities of these confusionists and troublemakers, whose intents and activities are inimical to peace, stability and development of the Niger Delta region, as we call on the security agencies to investigate them accordingly”, the statement said.

  • I’m sad to be only surviving cabinet member of Ogbemudia – Clark

    I’m sad to be only surviving cabinet member of Ogbemudia – Clark

    The only surviving cabinet member of late Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia, Chief Edwin Clark, has said that the decision to establish the University of Benin shocked them cabinet members.

    Chief Clark who spoke to newsmen after the Service of Songs for Dr. Ogbemudia at the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium said UNIBEN established as Midwest Institute of Technology helped to unify the country after the Nigeria civil war.

    Clark who served as Federal Commissioner of Information under late Ogbemudia said he felt sad to be the only surviving cabinet member of Ogbemudia.

    He said Ogbemudia helped Gowon to unify the country by building schools in some of the then Eastern states.

    He said, ‎”Even though, he (Ogbemudia) was 84, it was sad to me. It came to me as a rude shock. You see me sitting down here. But I am today, the only one surviving out of all members of his cabinet. So, you can imagine my sadness.

    “He was a great man. He was a man of many strides. He was very nationalistic. After the war, he brought unity to the Mid-West. He did so many things; he gave jobs to the people.

    “He promoted sports everywhere. He was number one sports governor and Mid-Westerners were number one everywhere they went. He established Afuze sports centre. He established New Era Grammar School to help discover athletes.‎”

    “The establishment of the University of Benin was the most surprising achievement. When the war broke out, all Mid-Western students were driven away or they went to other universities. He established the Mid-West Institute of Technology; I was the pro-chancellor.

    “He established the University of Benin Teaching Hospital. He did so many things.‎ But above all he was a very peaceful man.”

     

     

  • Militant group denounces Clark’s stakeholders’ forum

    Militant group denounces Clark’s stakeholders’ forum

    The Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate (NDGJM), the insurgent group, which has claimed responsibility for attacks on oil and gas assets in the upland areas of the oil-rich region, has denounced the recently convened Niger Delta stakeholders’ by Ijaw national leader, Chief Edwin Clark, saying the meeting was a selfish project.

    The group, in a statement electronically circulated to the media Monday by its spokesman, Aldo Agbalaja, also said it would not observe the resolutions of the last Friday meeting, which was attended by some dignitaries, including the Delta state governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, warning the federal government to be wary of the Ijaw leader, whom it accused of being part of the last administration, which shortchanged the people of the region.

    According to the statement, the call for cessation of hostilities, which had since been accepted by another insurgent group; the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), was just a smokescreen, aimed at collecting money from government and to create the impression that the people who attended the meeting were indeed the true representatives of all the people of the region.

    NDGJM, which emphatically stated that it was not going to respect the call by the Clark-led stakeholders, however said it might consider sheathing its sword if the federal government would seek out the true stakeholders of the region, which it said should come from the six core Niger Delta states.

    It added that a group of stakeholders; the Niger Delta Contact Group, led by the first military administration of the Old Rivers state, King Alfred Diete-Spiff, currently in talks with government, could help with reaching out to genuine leaders of the region.

    “He (Chief Edwin Clark) does not have the mandate to convene a meeting or speak on behalf of the Niger Delta, the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate is not in support of that so-called stakeholders’ meeting, which by the way was populated by the same gang of breast-pocket politicians who in the six to seven years of Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency, ruled with him, looted the nation and raped the Niger Delta. We see that meeting in Warri on Friday last week as an attempt by this same gang, led by Clark, to creep back into national relevance and continue with the looting spree that supposedly ended with Jonathan’s regime.

    “We are neither moved by the stage-playing in name of the call for ceasefire by the Warri gang last Friday, nor by the acting up that followed in the supposed ceasefire declaration by the Niger Delta Avengers, as a matter of fact, the people who called for truce were the same set of people who put the Avengers together in the first place, therefore the hypocrisy of these people is becoming glaring to the world by the day.

    “We also know that the charade called ceasefire is in the bid to collect more money from both the federal government and oil companies, to be shared between the founders and the boys of the Avengers. We hereby serve a notice that the so called truce called by E.K Clark and co is not recognised by the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate as we do not see Clark as the leader of all Niger Delta, but of only the Ijaw nation.

    “We are serving a notice that the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate is still carrying on with this campaign against Nigeria’s oil and gas interest until the federal government does right by our people. Like we said in our previous message, only a credibly convened conference of Niger Delta stakeholders, made up of real, grass-rooted representatives from the six core Niger Delta states, not breast-pocket rogues, who are merely looking for more avenues to sleaze and looting, can dialogue on behalf of the region and get a real deal out for our people, and those are the kind of representatives that the Niger Delta people can trust with their mandate.

    “Therefore, President Buhari should take note, stop wasting your time with these people, they are not serving the interest of the Niger Delta and they cannot stop the current campaign. They can only withdraw their boys, the Avengers, from action, but not the genuine campaigners for a better Niger Delta.

    “We are also aware that there is a group (NDDCG), led by the Amanyanabo of Twon Brass, Alfred Diete-Spiff, which has the involvement of some international agencies, we would rather the federal government builds on this group to reach out to the genuine representatives of the peoples of the region, across the six states, to discuss the way forward because we believe what is worth doing at all is worth doing well. Build on this group and reach out to our people, not on an Edwin Clark group, which had connived with Jonathan in the past to subject this region, including the majority of our Ijaw brothers, to one of the most untold humiliations by leaving the region they claimed to be representing worse than it was under previous administrations. Enough of these buccaneers in the name of leaders of the region, our people from both the upland and the creeks deserve a better deal, not the Avengers kind of deal,’’ the group said.

  • Okowa, Clark, others to Avengers: Cease hostilities now

    Okowa, Clark, others to Avengers: Cease hostilities now

     

    ……Niger Delta Elders agree on raising unified regional negotiation platform

     

    Niger Delta leaders rose Friday against the current spate of sabotage of oil and gas facilities by militants in the region and threat by them to pull the region out of the rest of Nigeria.

    The leaders including Chief Edwin Clark, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, former Minister of Police Affairs, Alaowei Broderick Bozimo, former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chief Timi Alaibe, Niger Delta activist, Tony Uranta, publisher of the Thisday newspaper, Chief Nduka Obaigbena,and  royal fathers, warned the militants to respect calls by traditional rulers, elders and leaders of the region for cessation of hostilities  forthwith.

    The leaders convened an emergency meeting in Warri, Delta State against the backdrop of the secession threat by the militants on Thursday.

    They asked agitators and aggrieved groups to “hearken to the appeal of the traditional rulers, elders and leaders of thought to stop further attack on oil and gas facilities and give room for dialogue.”

    But the meeting, hosted by Chief Clark, also urged the Federal Government to “stop further deployment of military hardware and resources in the region,” to ensure the confidence of the people and enhance opportunity for peace and order.

    In a communiqué at the end of the deliberation, the Niger Delta leaders charged the federal government to stop the deployment of the military to solve the crisis in the region, noting that it has so far inflicted untold hardship and dislocation on life and living of innocent people.

    Government, they added, should take calls for the restructuring of the nation as the first step in healing the country.

    They resolved to establish a pan-Niger Delta Platform to “speak for and negotiate on behalf of the region. The meeting further resolved to set up the said platform with effect from Friday 19th August, 2016.

    “Any platform for dialogue and negotiation should be all-embracing, involving all the ethnic nationalities and interest groups in the region to holistically address the problems.

    “The meeting also resolved to support the popular demand for the restructuring of the Nation’s political system as recommended by the 2014 National Conference. The practice of equitable fiscal federalism is a precondition for sustainable peace and development of our Country.

    “Without prejudice to efforts made so far, the Federal Government should demonstrate seriousness by reaching out to the authentic representatives of the region to discuss peace and the way forward.”

    Addressing participants earlier, Governor Okowa charged leaders of the Niger Delta to take up the challenge of stopping the degradation of the region’s environment by prevailing on their angry sons to desist from attacks on oil and gas facilities.

    Okowa, who was the only state governor to attend the meeting in person, noted that though expressing grievances over perceived injustice was not out of place, doing more damage than what causes the anger is absurd.

    The governor, who also charged the leaders of the region to ensure that the region has a credible face to represent it when approaching the federal government to register the discontent of their people, said violent protest, would only rob the people of the region the desired development.

    “Agitation is very important, yes you may be making a point, and we have been crying that the oil companies have been destroying our land over time.  They have harmed our land, harmed our water and things are getting very bad but unfortunately we are even taking actions that destroy the land and destroy our water far more than what the oil companies are doing. These are things that the people may not understand that in anger we have done more than what the oil companies have done.

    “Our traditional rulers and our leaders should let the youths know that they should stop violence, with a firm assurance that the elders will speak for us; we know that fiscal federalism, restructuring of the country are important but, we should look at what we can benefit from President Buhari’s administration as a people.

    “We should be peaceful, please let us give peace a chance, we need to create the enabling environment, we need to be ready to accommodate investors because, the gas revolution project will cost in excess of 15 billion dollars and the process of dredging the Escravos bar is part of the bargain”, he said.

    Also speaking, Chief Clark, said the answer to most of the crisis rocking the country from different parts of the country is in the report of the 2014 National Conference, adding that restructuring of the Nigerian system has become an issue in the face of all myriad of issues facing the country.

    “I posit that the answers to many if not all, of these issues are contained in the Report of the 2014 National Conference. I salute well-meaning persons who have supported the call for restructuring the country.

    “We must find a permanent solution to the various problems we are facing in this country including the youth revolt in the Niger Delta, Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram, Biafra agitation, kidnapping and recently, the inability of the various states to pay their workers’ salaries and pension.

    “My strong belief is that only a genuine restructuring of the political administration of the country will remove most of these problems in the country. With such, the issues that lead some of us to take up arms will be resolved,” he said.

    While commending the President Buhari for indicating the willingness to open line of dialogue with the aggrieved Niger Delta youths, Chief Clark stated such discussion should be channel through genuine leaders from the region.

     

  • I’ve been constant in fight against corruption—E.K Clark

    I’ve been constant in fight against corruption—E.K Clark

    Ijaw national leader, Chief Edwin Clark, says he has been in the crusade against corruption in the country long before the coming of the current federal administration.

    Chief Clark who spoke in Warri on Friday, reacted to a recent question placed on his anti-corruption stance, which has been touted as an emergency stunt.

    According to the elder statesman, he was one of the loudest voices against the social ill during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, trend he said he continued during former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    He however said those who criticised him for supporting President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-graft crudade and had kept mum during his predecessor’s tenure had not been truthful and had been unfair to him.

    “Ordinarily, I shouldn’t have reply to it because whoever is the author is vicious, wicked and not a patriotic Nigerian. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have written I never spoke against corruption during the time of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    “I said the author is being vicious because I have being talking about corruption even before the time of Jonathan. In the first place, I talked about corruption during the time of erstwhile President Obasanjo and Yar’ Adua.

    “I remembered at that time, I was in the forefront of fighting our former governor, Chief James Ibori, leading to him being sentenced UK. Every Nigerian is aware of this. I led the crusade against him especially when a judge dropped the charges against him”, the elder statesman stated.

    He added that under Jonathan he wrote open letters and held private talks with the former president on corrupt governors in the country noting that some of their cases were still pending in various courts, wondering while his critics were accusing him of keeping mum on corruption.

    Clark reiterated that President Buhari’s fight against corruption was in the interest of the country, saying, “no matter whatever fault we find against him. Some people said it is discriminatory but before Buhari came to power when he was campaigning that he is going to fight corruption.

    “And he drew a line that those who were corrupt before he came to office that he will not prosecute them. But will only prosecute those who were corrupt when he had taken office, I was first to attack him. I wrote to the various embassies that it is not right to differentiate between one group of corrupt officer and another set because some are with him in the same party?

    “But when he decides to wage war against corruption I saw to it that he was sincere. Whatever shortcomings notwithstanding, he is doing a good job in cleaning the society. People are now becoming more careful than it was before even those they are not accused of being corrupt.”

    “During Jonathan time I accused Chief Obasanjo that he was the most corrupt ex-president Nigeria had ever produced. I said that he left prison with only N20,000, but today he is one of the wealthiest former President in the whole of West Africa. All these I said during Jonathan time”, Clark further stated.

  • FG not after Ijaw people, says Presidency

    FG not after Ijaw people, says Presidency

    The Presidency on Friday denied the claims that the Federal Government is harrassing and persecuting the Ijaw people.

    An elder statesman from the region, Edwin Clark in an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari had accused the Federal Government of harassing the Ijaw people, citing the case of Government Tompolo.

    An Ijaw Youth organization has also made similar claims.

    Recent happenings in the region have also led to some Niger Delta militants taking up arms and bombing oil pipelines in the region.

    Reacting to the claims on telephone with our correspondent on Friday, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina said that the claims were false.

    According to him, no group in the country is being targeted for harassment or persecution.

    He said: “I’m yet to read that letter but I will just say it is Edwin Clark’s personal opinion. Anybody who is a follower of events in the country knows that this administration persecutes nobody.

    “The administration is just asking all Nigerians to do the right thing and anybody that goes contrary to the law will answer irrespective of where that person comes from.

    “So if anybody says a particular group is being targeted for attack or assault or persecution, right thinking Nigerians know that that is not true,” he stated.

  • ‘Or am I dead?’

    News of Chief Edwin Clark’s self-exhibition to journalists in Abuja to make the point that he is bodily unaffected by President Goodluck Jonathan’s failure in the March 28 presidential election was interesting. From the look of things, Clark, Ijaw National Leader and a former Federal Commissioner for Information, is reaping the harvest of his sycophantic support for the Jonathan presidency.

    A weekend report said of Clark, who is in his 80s and a die-hard Jonathanian: “He said some people had been going round with rumours that he collapsed when he heard the outcome of the presidential election.” Clark was quoted as saying, “I am here today to tell you that I am not dead. Or am I dead? In every election, there would be winners and losers. The same thing happened during the last presidential election. I am alive. Today, I won’t talk about what happened before, during and after the election. That will come another day.”

    Clark continued: “I am talking to you now because I am travelling tomorrow and some people will go into the streets and say I was carried into air ambulance…Jonathan was the one who contested election, I didn’t. So, why should I die?”

    Perhaps more appropriately, Clark should have asked: Why did people think Jonathan’s defeat could kill me? In the period before the election, Clark was unapologetically visible as a pro-Jonathan campaigner and was even associated with extreme views that implied a national shutdown if Jonathan wasn’t reelected. The passion he brought to the Jonathan reelection project was often disturbing, if not terrifying, especially when considered against the backdrop of his advanced age.

    It needs to be said that Clark must be exceptionally physically strong to have received the stunning blow of Jonathan’s fall without falling. No one who had followed how Clark clung to Jonathan and what he stood for could have imagined that the blow of disappointment would fail to knock the old man down. So, it may be understandable that stories of Clark’s alleged collapse followed the collapse of Jonathan’s dream. He was considered too close to the subject and it was unthinkable that he would be unaffected by the death of dreams. In other words, to employ a Yoruba cultural metaphor, Clark gave the impression that he was Abobaku, a courtier fated to die with the king. Isn’t it thought-provoking that Clark asked the journalists: “Or am I dead?”  This may have been not just a rhetorical question. It suggests that Clark may be truly confused about the state of his existence. It is also possible that Clark is biologically alive but politically dead, meaning his pro-Jonathan performance was probably his swan song.

    Another interpretation: It could be that Clark has become a shadow of his former self, meaning something died in him when Jonathan lost the election. Or could it be that a source of easy wealth and influence dried up unexpectedly leaving the old man gasping for breath?