A Tribute by Sola Ajisafe, Esq
I first met Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim in 2001 as one of his closest aides at Global Fleet Oil and Gas. Even after I left his employment, our bond held. He kept inviting me to his seminars nationwide as a participant. That access never stopped.
In 2019, I visited him at the University of Fortune in Igbotako. He drove me round the campus, detailing plans to build a university that would rival and collaborate with Cambridge. Over pupuru and fresh fish, we spoke for three hours. He shared a dream: becoming the first Nigerian UN Secretary-General. He noted every SG had come from Harvard, Cambridge or Oxford. As an African, he chose to earn degrees from those same institutions. When he ran for Senate, I backed him fully. In two years, his performance surpassed many who spent decades there. Intentional and deliberate, he became Chairman of the World Parliamentary Council from Nigeria and moved several bills for his district that became law.
Beyond intellect, Jimoh is audacious, courageous and futuristic. You cannot push him aside on any subject. He understands economic policy that is practical and actionable. Also, he is a Czar on global political matters.
His nomination as Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN shocked many. Some plotted his downfall, urging the President to reverse it and the UN to reject him. The President ignored them, the UN accepted him without any furore. Asiwaju found a man prepared for the job. We have had greats like Alhaji Maitama Sule, Dr. Joe Garba, and Prof. Ibrahim Gambari. Yet none was as educated or as prepared as Jimoh Ibrahim. He will give Nigeria its best moments at the UN.
Presenting his letters of credence to Secretary-General Guterres, Jimoh wore a three-piece Yoruba Aso-Oke Agbada, deep green with white, finished with the highest hand-woven embroidery. That was African pride on display. It showed Nigeria is big inside and outside. He represents Nigeria and the continent.
Our relationship has not always been rosy. When he backed another Senate President in 2023, I published a scathing rebuke and opposed his bid for Governor of Ondo State. Yet in December 2025, he invited me to the University of Fortune with my twin girls. He had earlier given them scholarships and has now extended those to their Master’s degrees.
Many hate his guts and business model. To them he is a non-conformist, a disruptor. Some call him arrogant. They rate him by their standard. They analyse a phenomenon they do not understand. Jimoh is too big to be understood, too complex to dissect, and too simple for their expectations.
As he leaves Nigeria’s murky politics for the United Nations, friends and foes will see Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim for who he truly is; a big Araba tree, valuable in all seasons.
Sola Ajisafe (Fundamental Ajiology)
Former Legal Officer, Global Fleet Oil & Gas Ltd.
