Word: clark
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...knowing a problem is not the same as solving it. Some doubt Jonathan has the charisma to succeed where so many predecessors - both civilian and military - have failed. Even Clark, who describes his protégé as "very humble, gentle, respectful and incorruptible; very quiet and intelligent," concedes that, "sometimes I felt he was rather too gentle to be effective...
...there are reasons to believe the 52-year-old might succeed in the Delta. His family is from the southern Ijaw tribe - the first time the rebels have been able to talk to one of their own in the presidency. And he knows his homeland. In 2007, Edwin Clark, a longtime mentor and powerful backer to Jonathan, took the then newly elected vice president to the wild and dangerous creeks of the Niger Delta. "He met some of the militant leaders," says Clark. "He is aware of their demands, their aspirations and he is aware of everything, the neglect...
Jonathan is also well acquainted with the environmental damage oil has done to the Delta. He studied zoology, and later taught it at a university in the oil hub of Port Harcourt. He also once worked as an environmental protection officer in the region. "He will perform," says Clark, a political powerbroker in the south and then man who persuaded Jonathan to stand for vice president. (See if a military coup would help Nigeria...
...septuagenarian Clark, who has suddenly become one of the most influential men in Africa, is another factor. Nigerian leaders often come with a powerful mentor working behind the scenes; a backer whose office is the only way to get to the big guy. On Feb. 11, two days after his protégé took office, a mass of Nigeria's rich, powerful and wannabes - parliamentarians, former ministers, ex-governors, a former police chief and even the head of a state-owned television station - crowded into the expansive living room of Clark's Abuja mansion. Clark sensed his growing power...
...Clark, now a surfboard maker, became the driving force behind the Mavericks Surfing Contest, which he started in 1999 with a novel idea: the competition would be called at 48 hours' notice and only when the waves topped 20 ft. Once a storm with swells that size was predicted, Clark alerted the 24 best big-wave riders from around the world, and they scrambled to reach Half Moon Bay, better known for its fog and eerie fields of pumpkins. Advertisers figured out swiftly that nothing sells better to the youth market than the heroic (and rebellious) image of a lone...