Margaret Ekpo

Biography

Chief Margaret Ekpo was born on 27 July 1914 at Adiabo Okurikang, near Creek Town, in what was then the Nigeria Protectorate. She came of age during British colonial rule.

She married John Udo Ekpo, a medical doctor, and settled in Aba, Eastern Nigeria, where she would spend decades building one of the most effective women's political organisations in the country's history.

In 1946 her husband fell seriously ill, and the couple went to Dublin for his treatment. While they were there she studied at the Rathmines School of Domestic Economics, later part of the Dublin Institute of Technology, and earned a diploma in domestic science in 1948. Back in Aba, she opened a school that taught domestic science and dressmaking.

Historical Context

Nigeria's path to independence in 1960 was shaped by nationalist politics that were, despite their anti-colonial rhetoric, largely dominated by men. Political parties sought women's support at election time but offered women little in return: no seats at the table, no power to shape policy.

Eastern Nigerian society, shaped by both Igbo and Efik traditions and colonial structures, offered women significant roles in market economies and community leadership, but not in formal politics. Margaret Ekpo changed that.

What She Fought For

Her politics began with a meeting that was meant for her husband. In 1945 he was angry about how the colonial government treated Nigerian doctors, but as a civil servant he was barred from politics. So he asked her to go to a rally in Aba in his place and tell him what was said. She was the only woman there.

She came home wanting the market women of Aba in politics too. Their husbands said no. Salt was scarce that year, so Ekpo bought up the bags of salt in Aba market and sold it only to women who registered with her market women's association. The husbands changed their minds. By 1955, women voters in Aba outnumbered men.

Ekpo built the women's wing of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) into a formidable political force in Eastern Nigeria. She was a grassroots organiser who spoke directly to market women, farmers, and community leaders, using the language and concerns of ordinary Nigerian women, not elite politics.

She led demonstrations, organised boycotts, and drew market women into the independence struggle, not as supporters of men's agendas, but as political actors with their own demands.

In 1961, she was elected to the Eastern Region House of Assembly, one of the first women to sit in a Nigerian regional legislature. She used that platform to push for women's inclusion at every level of Nigerian public life.

Major Achievements

• Elected to the Eastern Region House of Assembly (1961), one of Nigeria's first female legislators
• Extraordinary Member of the Eastern Region House of Chiefs (1959–1961)
• Built the NCNC women's wing into a mass movement
• Awarded the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) and Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON)
• Titled Ezinne of the Igbo people and Obong-awan of the Efik people
• Diploma in domestic science from the Rathmines School of Domestic Economics, Dublin (1948)

Her Impact Today

Margaret Ekpo died on 21 September 2006, aged 92. Her life spanned colonial Nigeria, independence, military rule, and the return of democracy. Throughout it all, she insisted that Nigerian women were not bystanders in their country's history. They were its makers.

Her name is honoured in Aba and Calabar. Her legacy is every Nigerian woman who runs for office, votes, or organises.