[1] She played major roles as a grassroots and nationalist politician in the Eastern Nigerian city of Aba, in the era of a hierarchical and male-dominated movement towards independence.

Through her mother, she was a member of the royal family of King Eyo Honesty II of Creek Town.

Her husband was indignant with the colonial administrators' treatment of indigenous Nigerian doctors but as a civil servant, he could not attend meetings to discuss the matter.

She later joined the decolonization-leading National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), as a platform to represent a marginalized group.

In 1953, Ekpo was nominated by the NCNC to the regional House of Chiefs, and in 1954 she established the Aba Township Women's Association.

[14] Ekpo won a seat in the Eastern Regional House of Assembly in 1961, a position that allowed her to fight for issues affecting women at the time.