[1] Bako graduated from La Follette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1982.

He served as a major in the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Iran after the Iran–Iraq War, which was in place from 1988 to 1991.

[2] After being appointed Akwa Ibom administrator in December 1993, Bako developed infrastructure in the Bakassi area, later forcibly claimed by Cross River State.

[4] In March 1998 he was among 26 who had been charged during the Gen Diya led coup plot against Ababcha administration.

[6] He and others were pardoned by President Olusegun Obasanjo in September 2003 after reviewing his case of non-involvement in any coup plotting.