Esau were staff members, while some of his schoolmates at Igbobi were Taslim Elias, Horatio Thomas and Justice F.O.

While in America, he helped to establish an African student's association, through which he gained the attention of the U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who received him and his organization in the White House.

He soon entered the Nigerian political scene and joined the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons.

However, his political success was to undergo a great challenge when in mid-1958, he and Kola Balogun attempted to remove Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe as the leader of National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC).

After the secession of the Eastern Region he was appointed as a Roving Ambassador by the Biafran president Odumegwu Ojukwu and held this post till the end of the civil war.