13 Facts About Ukpabi Asika

Anthony Ukpabi Asika was a Nigerian academic and civil servant.

Ukpabi Asika served as the Administrator of East Central State during the military regime of General Yakubu Gowon, appointed when his predecessor, the Eastern Region governor Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, led the Biafran state into secession.

Ukpabi Asika's father was Edward Obiozo Asika of the Ijelekpe Dynasty in Ogbeoza Village, Onitsha.

Ukpabi Asika was educated as St Patrick's College, Calabar, Edo College and University College, now the University of Ibadan.

Ukpabi Asika worked as Clerk of Onitsha Town Council, Clerk in the Department of Marketing and Export, Lagos, Clerk at the Northern Nigeria Marketing Board, Kano.

Ukpabi Asika studied at the University of California, Berkeley in the US from 1961 to 1965 and then became a lecturer in Political Science at the University of Ibadan between 1965 and 1967.

Ukpabi Asika was appointed administrator of East-Central State in October 1967 at the start of the Biafran civil war, theoretically based in Enugu which in fact was the capital of the breakaway state.

Biafran radio used the nickname "Lord Haw Haw" for Ukpabi Asika, who was a pro-federal Igbo intellectual.

Ukpabi Asika's administration was said to be starved of funds.

Ukpabi Asika was strongly opposed to the creation of new states.

Ukpabi Asika later was Team Leader of the Presidential Delegation to Niger, Chad and Cameroun which negotiated re-opening Nigeria borders in 1985.

Ukpabi Asika suffered a stroke in 1996, requiring extensive medical care, and was incapacitated from then on.

Ukpabi Asika was married to late Chief Mrs Chinyere Ukpabi Asika, and the couple had three children: Obi, Nkiru and Uju.