Culled from: Ynaija.com
Jimoh Ibrahim is all the rage in Nigerian social media circles these days. And why not? Arguably, the most controversial businessman in the land, Ibrahim recently suspended the operations of both the Newswatch magazine and Air Nigeria. Apart from his legendary business closing abilities, perhaps the most distinctive thing about Ibrahim is his mouth — he shoots when he wants and doesn’t care who is hit by the missives.
We’ve compiled ten of the craziest comments by Jimoh Ibrahim in the last ten years.
1. January 12, 2012. At the peak of the oil subsidy saga and Occupy Nigeria movement, Ibrahim released a statement condemning those who linked him with the fuel subsidy.
“My attention has been drawn to some
statements from some miscreants linking my name to subsidy collection
from the federal government. Ordinarily, we should ignore such
uneducated and uncivilised statements, which is at best the imagination
of some lawless gangsters.”
2. February 24, 2012. Jimoh disclosed during an interview with the editorial board of the National mirror, what exactly set him apart from others.
“There is nothing that sets Jimoh
Ibrahim apart from others, except that my ways are unusual; unusual to
the circumstances that I find myself. To go a bit further, things my
colleagues would play with, I don’t play with them, things like
discipline, like copying common culture or common behaviour. You will
not find me at parties, but that does not mean that I do not eat what
they eat at parties.”
3. In the beginning (as told by Ibrahim during that same interview with the editorial board of National Mirror on February 24, 2012.)
“When I started primary school, I
must tell you the truth, I was second last in my class. There used to be
24 pupils in a class. I always got the 23rd position. Ade, the son of a
reverend, used to get the 24th position. So, we were best friends.”
4. May 2011. Consistently at loggerheads with the governor of his
state, Olusegun Mimiko, Ibrahim who nursed governorship ambitions of his
own, had this to say about his governor shortly after his (Ibrahim’s)
mother was kidnapped in 2011.
“He (Mimiko) said he had made
unsuccessful calls to my phone and bowed to apologise to me over my
mother’s kidnap. I asked him if he was the kidnapper. Then he went back
to the state and started publishing all manner of lies.”
5. Take a minute to meditate on this:
“Corporations are like individuals
who naturally will get sick. the usual thing to do is admit them in
hospitals either for corporate surgery or for treatment, as the case may
be. I’m a corporate surgeon.”
6. May 2011. Still on the Mimiko-Ibrahim feud, Ibrahim famously
kicked out Mimiko from his private aircraft and he explained his
decision this way:
“Mimiko may burn the state on his own
and put anybody’s name on it, but to us, that is not an issue. Our
issue is that Mimiko visiting a private aircraft without invitation,
when he is not an airport official, is a security risk and amounts to
conduct unbecoming of a governor.”
7. Here’s why a major airline like Air Nigeria had to be closed down, from the mouth of none other than the closer himself:
“We had to close Air Nigeria due to staff disloyalty and environmental tension which are not conducive for business in the aviation sector.”
8. August 12, 2012. Premium Times newspaper quoted sources
at a meeting with Jimoh Ibrahim, where he preached from the Bible to
justify his suspension of Newswatch magazine. He had choice curses for those fighting against him, and of course a powerful analogy with none other for his mentor than God himself.
“I am even more lenient. When God got
angry with the Israelites, he unleashed fire on them. I should be
praised not criticised. As a considerate man, I’m not unleashing fire
but simply suspending the magazine.”
9. March 5, 2001. In an interview with a reporter for the Saturday Tribune, Ibrahim offered the solution which if Baba had only listened, by now the country would have been better.
“If you now talk of monitoring the
real sector, there will be lots of jobs for Nigerians to do. I have
proposed to Chief Obasanjo and I charged N20 million, but Baba shouted
at me and he did not want to pay the fee, so I did not want to give him
the key. I said upgrade the Board of Internal Revenue to a full fledged
ministry. Call it Ministry of Revenue, direct state governments to also
upgrade their inland revenues to full fledged ministries and the country
would be better.”
10. August 6, 2010. Asked whether Richard Branson had divested his 49
per cent stake in Air Nigeria (formerly Virgin Nigeria.), Ibrahim made
one of his most famous quotes yet.
“I don’t deal with all these ones.
What I am concentrating on is Air Nigeria. Air Nigeria is Air Nigeria
and not Richard Branson. Richard Branson is only one individual and he
is doing only one business which is aviation. I am bigger than Richard
Branson. Why are you asking about Richard Branson? He is my colleague.
What am I going to do with him? Currently in Air Nigeria, I control both
the board and management. Does Richard Branson control anything there? I
don’t have any problems with him. He is my friend.”
No comments:
Post a Comment