By Femi Odere
For starters, a definitional understanding of “capitalism” as well as “intellectualism,” which are the foundational precepts of this piece is desirable, if not apposite.
A quick Google check defines capitalism as “an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit.” It also defines a capitalist as “someone who owns or controls a significant amount of capital (wealth) and uses it to invest in businesses and generate profit” and that “they are also individuals who support the economic system of capitalism, where private individuals own and control the means of production.”
In the same vein, the search engine defines intellectualism as “the exercise of the intellect at the expense of the emotions.” So, an intellectual, according to Google, is a person with the “ability to think and to understand ideas and information” and “someone who spends a lot of time studying and thinking about complicated ideas.”
As common as these words are in everyday usage around the world, being identified either as a “capitalist” or an “intellectual” in the real sense of the words cannot be said to be common because of the higher mental exertions expected of whoever is desirous of the identification. It is, in fact, a rarity the world over, to find someone who not only embraces these two polarities but also possesses and understands the spiritual and philosophical grundnorm that governs them almost in equal measure.
It is also a fact, and evidence abounds, that Capitalism and Intellectualism cannot even be described as having the lowest common denominator as strange bedfellows because they operate in two different worlds, both of which are mutually relatively antagonistic. Therefore, it’s a given for capitalism and intellectualism to detest each other with equal passion. Thus, a breeding and thriving space found by capitalism is almost always stifling for intellectualism and vice versa. It is difficult to see both of them in close proximity, let alone holding hands. They do not cohere.
Therefore, someone who’s desirous of one cannot also covet the other simultaneously not only because the spiritual, philosophical, and ideational rules that govern both of them are diametrical if not violently opposed to each other, engaging in either one is a lifetime pursuit.
You cannot be known as a capitalist of the highest hue and expected to also be known as an intellectual. You must choose one or the other. Not both. It becomes a situation of either -or as both of them are extremely difficult to accomplish together, if not impossible.
Since capitalism and intellectualism detest each other, metaphorically speaking, it goes without saying that a capitalist and an intellectual are not going to be too keen on each other because they necessarily must view the world from different lenses. The world of a capitalist is bifurcated between profit and loss while that of an intellectual is about the social good (pursuit of happiness) for the greatest number.
The capitalist’s trajectory and motivation are all about profit-making. Profit-making is what he lives and dies on. It is his high octane. Nothing makes much sense to him aside from profit making. In the world of a capitalist everything is commodified, including the family heirloom.
A capitalist doesn’t see why anyone should be interested in, say, the Gaia Hypothesis. He doesn’t know why anyone in his right mind should be emotionally disturbed when he hears about the depletion of the ozone layer. To him, since the final destruction of the ozone layer may not happen in another millennium, when everyone would be dead anyway, why would anybody attempt to stop the production of things that cause its depletion?
Whereas the intellectual sees the capitalist as the culprit for most of the world’s problems. An intellectual looks at untamed profit-making as evil. He sees it as the root cause of society’s problems. Nowhere is this violent dichotomy illustrated than in William Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice.”
But when you see someone, especially in the Nigerian clime, who enthusiastically embraces these two polarities, it necessarily should call for interrogation for society to take note.
And this is where Senator Jimoh Folorunsho Ibrahim comes in.
To be sure, Jimoh Ibrahim, as he’s simply and commonly called by both his admirers and detractors, is a household name who happened on the Nigerians’ consciousness, having started his bourgeois journey at a prime age. And the journey has paid off handsomely. Jimoh Ibrahim is a capitalist in the classical sense of the word.
Since one has demonstrated earlier that a capitalist stays on the profit-making trajectory that leaves him with little or no time for other time-consuming endeavors, especially academic pursuits, which to him is a mere waste of time, Jimoh Ibrahim has demonstrated that it’s not only possible to embrace the two polarities of capitalism and Intellectualism in equal measure and still come out on top.
A darling of the country’s media establishment because of his profound thoughts on issues of national importance while he was considered controversial in some quarters suddenly was unheard of again, Jimoh Ibrahim simply went ‘underground’ for some time. By the time he emerged from relative obscurity, he had become new and improved.
What Nigerians didn’t know was that he had taken his sabbatical from the public space to acquire knowledge, having sweated for and decorated with no less than five academic epaulets from universities in the United Kingdom, aside from what he already had in the Nigerian higher institutions.
These are B.Sc (Honors) in International Relations from the London School of Economics; M.Sc. in Mega Projects from the University of Oxford; MBA from Cambridge University; Doctor of Philosophy (Modern War) from the University of Buckingham; and Doctor of Business from Cambridge University. It should be noted, however, that Jimoh Ibrahim became the first to obtain this latter doctorate degree from the University of Buckingham since 1209.
It should also be noted that the aforementioned is aside from his academic accomplishment as an alumnus of the Harvard Law School in the United States with an LL.B. In Nigeria’s higher institutions, Jimoh Ibrahim has a Master’s in Public Administration (MPA) from Obafemi Awolowo University, a B.L from Nigeria Law School, and an LL.B (Honors) from Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile Ife.
While one may never know what truly drives Jimoh Ibrahim in his relentless pursuit of academic feats, even when he would casually retort during casual discussions that he sees no reason why he should not acquire knowledge since his parents didn’t go to school. And there are pointers that Jimoh Ibrahim would be back to school sooner or later for more knowledge, even when what he already has can be considered an overkill by any society’s standard. It is now incontrovertible that the Ondo State senator places a high premium on knowledge acquisition.
Jimoh Ibrahim has always stood out in everything he did. It is, therefore, not surprising that he now straddles the senate like a colossus where he has carved a niche for himself, a first-termer notwithstanding. He is the “star boy” of the Red Chamber because his contributions to issues on the floor are always profound and thought-provoking.
Jimoh Ibrahim is also not unnoticed in the Senate’s observation chamber known as the gallery. This is where Nigerians freely watch the senate proceedings during plenary. This is where they also comment and pass judgments, although in low tones, on senators who dare to take to the floor during debates over bills or motions. Comments like “dis man get sense” or “this is a brilliant senator” are frequent when Jimoh Ibrahim is making his submissions to issues of national importance.
Some committee chairmen would give up midway when Jimoh Ibrahim was being introduced, perhaps because listing his chains of academic laurels could be so exhausting at committee meetings that they would just say, etc., etc, after mentioning a handful of his academic feats. One has had cause to go with him to the offices of some of his colleagues, and when other issues or legislative challenges were discussed, Jimoh Ibrahim would effortlessly provide the needed solutions to the amazement of his colleagues. The man thinks on his feet.
In the Senate, Jimoh Ibrahim’s brilliance has started to take him around the world in his less than two years in the upper chamber. He represents the Senate in multilateral organizations including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where he articulates and suggests macroeconomic policies that developing countries should consider.
A few days ago, Jimoh Ibrahim was the guest speaker at one of his alma mater, the University of Buckingham in the United Kingdom precisely on Saturday, April 11, 2025. But before his speech, the Chair of the Council of the university, Mr. Mark Qualter, craved the indulgence of the university registrar who would formally introduce him because he had something personal to say about Jimoh Ibrahim. Mr. Qualter called him an “amazing” personality whose family has twelve degrees between father, wife, and their two children (some with multiple degrees and First Class) from the university. It was around this time that the world found out that Jimoh Ibrahim had been conferred with the honor and privilege of a member of the University of Cambridge’s Senate.
As it turned out, the voters of the Ondo South Senatorial made their greatest decision to make Jimoh Ibrahim a member of Nigeria’s political Senate, where he has become a prominent member. He’s now a member of an academic Senate in a prominent UK university. This is vintage Jimoh Ibrahim.
It should be noted that very soon, and ironically too, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim will have a significant say as to who becomes a member of the Senate at the University of Fortune in his homestead of Igbotako. He owns the university.
Perhaps the decision for the university’s unusual name was deliberate on the part of Jimoh Ibrahim because he wanted to prove to the world that the human entity can be an intellectual and a capitalist (Fortuner) at the same time. This will be a testament, once again, to his unusualness. With the establishment of a university, Jimoh Ibrahim is probably telling us that wealth acquisition is a means to an end whereas knowledge acquisition is the ultimate end. This, it seems to me, is his very essence.
*Odere is a writer and a Senior Legislative Aide to the Senate President on Stakeholders’ Engagement and Mobilization.
