Nicetas was the son of the patrikios Gregoras, the brother of the Exarch of Africa Heraclius the Elder, under whom he served as magister militum in Africa.
Bonakis was then dispatched to complete the conquest of the Nile Delta, but two garrisons, at Semanub and Athrib, resisted until Phocas sent a general, Bonosus, from Palestine to recover Egypt.