Clement Ebri at 73: A Statesman Steeped in Serenity
Anthony EKPO BASSEY
How the name itself unfurls like a familiar flag in the warm winds of memory.
In this moment of mellowed years, let us let language linger lovingly around him, without fences of categories, only the free-flowing fragrance of feeling. For he remains, to many who watched Cross River’s chapters unfold, a quiet cornerstone, a calm custodian of civility, a statesman whose steps stirred the soil with sincerity rather than swagger.
How swiftly time slips, yet it seems only yesterday that his measured voice and mild manner steadied a young state searching for shape. There was something in his governance that glowed gently, like evening embers under the eaves; no bluster, only the believable beauty of balance and breadth. And how memory, mischievous and magical, brings back the soft shimmer of those seasons, when public service still felt like a sacred summons, and Ebri moved through the moment with the dignity of a man determined to do right, not merely to be right.
Now, at seventy-three, he stands in the sunset’s soft spotlight: seasoned but not spent, serene yet still stirring admiration. His life reads like a long, lilting lyric of leadership laced with loyalty, of clarity clothed in compassion, of courage carried without clamour. The years have wrapped him in wisdom’s warm robe, and still his presence pulses with that same gentle grace that once guided a generation’s gaze.
So here’s to Clement Ebri: To the calm captain of Cross River’s early course.
To the statesman whose story still sparkles softly in our shared remembrance.
May the coming chapters be crowned with peace, purpose, and the pleasant poetry of well-earned rest.
