While in Calabar, he was exposed to the teachings of James Aggrey, who pursued academic opportunities for African students in Historical Black Colleges and Universities in America.
Calabar became a training ground for some nationalist politicians due to the early site of secondary schools in the city and the influence of people like James Agrrey.
He was a member of the former with the establishment of the Nigerian Youth League in Calabar[3] and he also campaigned vigorously for education as a tool of freeing the African mind and soul and liberating it from forces of political repression.
He joined the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) in the 1940s and was elected vice president after the death of Herbert Macaulay, which saw Nnamdi Azikiwe emerging as the new leader of the party.
The constitution was made law without the proper consultation of Nigerians, leading to Nnamdi Azikiwe and Eyo Ita opposing the regional political arrangement, while they presented a minority report of a federation of eight states.
[4] A few federal ministers, however, from the NCNC supported a trial run of the Macpherson Constitution of 1951, in contravention of Azikiwe's view of opposition.