The chairman of Mbo Local Government Area, where Ekpenyong hailed from, Asuqwo Eyo, confirmed the death to Airon News, maintained that the said the federal lawmaker was not ill.

He was a member of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly where he spent one term.
He was at one time the Deputy Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state. In 2015, he was elected into the Federal House of Representatives as a member representing Oron/Mbo/Okobo/UrueOffong/Oruko/Udung-Uko Federal Constituency of Akwa Ibom State on the PDP platform.

Ekpenyong was the Managing Director of Based/Investment Trust Co. Nigeria Ltd and the Chief Executive Officer of Brule Integrated Nigeria Ltd.

However, his career was blotted by his arrest for allegedly forging his school certificates which he presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). And in 2017, he was arraigned at the Federal High Court, Uyo, the state capital, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for the alleged forgery of a national diploma certificate of the Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, Abia State.
The EFCC arraigned the lawmaker on nine counts bordering on forgery among others.

Ekpenyong, 58, reportedly died on Saturday