He was educated at the teachers' training college in Côte d'Ivoire and the University of Aix-en-Provence in France, earning a bachelor's degree in economics.
Chabi Kao served in the cabinet of president Hubert Maga from 1960 to 1963, developing a close personal relationship.
He had foreknowledge of the 1967 coup that toppled Soglo, and was the minister of finance and civil service in the administrations of Alphonse Alley and Maurice Kouandete, the only civilian in the cabinet.
This sparked the October 1972 coup led by Mathieu Kérékou, during which Chabi Kao was briefly imprisoned.
[2] Along with Alley and Jean-Baptiste Hachème, Chabi Kao was accused of planning a coup against Kérékou on 28 February 1973 and was imprisoned with 20 years of hard labor.