Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe joined the Nigerian Navy in 1960 as a cadet (officer). During the Nigerian civil war he fought on the side of Biafra. After the war, in January 1972 he was readmitted to the Navy, one of the few Igbo officers to regain their position.
In 1977 Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo appointed Ebitu Ukiwe as the military governor of Niger state in 1977. He was re-deployed to Lagos state as governor in July 1978, holding this post until October 1979.
In 1985 he became the Chief of General Staff and De Facto vice president under Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.
In January 1987 he resigned as military vice president after falling out with Babangida.
He later described his resignation by saying:
“It is nothing personal with Babangida".
We had our disagreements, and these were expected since he was not working with a buffoon. It would be impossible for people to agree on everything.
“There were major policy disagreements. One of them was on the issue of including Nigeria in the Organisation of Islamic Countries (IOC).
I thought it was wrong as the number two man in the administration for me not to be told about such a major decision.
“I still maintain that Nigeria, as a country, should not be a member of a religious organisation. Individual organisations can take up the membership of religious organisations, but not the country.”
