Dominic Ekandem

Dominic Ignatius Ekandem (1917 – 24 November 1995), was a Roman Catholic cardinal and was the first West African Catholic Bishop. He also founded the Missionary Society of Saint Paul of Nigeria (M.S.P.).
A native of Akwa Ibom State, Ekandem attended several Catholic seminaries before he became a priest. He was ordained on 7 December 1947, and became the first priest from the old Calabar province. His first assignment as bishop was as auxiliary of Calabar from 1953 to 1963. He was Bishop of Ikot Ekpene from 1963 to 1981; during that tenure, in April 1976, he was installed a cardinal. He then became Ecclesiastical Superior of Abuja, and when Abuja became a diocese in 1989, he became its Archbishop (personal title).