Leader of the Northern Elders Forum Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, who was at the Asokoro residence of late elderstatesman, Chief Edwin Clark, said the death hit him very hard. He said he had been friends with the late Clark from the days of the regional government.

He said: “Politically, wherever he is I will be there, wherever I am he will be there. “By the end we were together, we did almost everything together. So, EK is one of the few friends, those who have remained alive until now.

“So his death is a great loss, not only to you, but to us, who were his friends. In particular to me, a very, very close friend of his.

“But death is something God assigns to every being, not just human, every animal, everything. Only people who, I don’t know if they die, are the angels.”