Background
He was born on January 14, 1928, in Calabar Division of South-eastern State. The son of the Reverend Okon F.yo Ekpo, who belonged to the AME Zion Church, as did his grandfather and his great-uncle who was a bishop in the church.
He was born on January 14, 1928, in Calabar Division of South-eastern State. The son of the Reverend Okon F.yo Ekpo, who belonged to the AME Zion Church, as did his grandfather and his great-uncle who was a bishop in the church.
He was educated at St George's School, Aba, the Ibo town, and at Duke Town School and the Hope Waddel Institute, both at Calabar. At Lagos University he read law and got an LLB with honours.
He enlisted in the army in 1948 and worked his way up through the ranks, not being commissioned until 1958 when he went to Eaton Hall, Chester, for officer training. He served with the Nigerian forces in the Congo (Zaire) and returned home to be second in command of the 2nd and then 5th Infantry Battalions, promoted to Commanding Officer of the 5th Battalion in 1966.
By the time the Biafran war started in July 1967, he was Chief of Staff and Commander in Chief at the Army Supreme Headquarters in Lagos. He was promoted major-general on May 31, 1971. In December 1972 he went to Britain to do a year’s course at the Royal College of Defence Studies.
Smart, efficient, he believes in action rather than words. He has risen through the ranks to be fourth most senior officer in the Nigerian army. For 10 years he served without a commission, but after that he rose to colonel in eight years. During the Qiafran war and afterwards, he stayed as Commander in Chief in the Supreme Headquarters, Lagos. Seldom in the limelight, he shuns publicity, but as a south-easterner from a minor tribe, he plays an invaluable part in helping General Gowon balance the military power structure.