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Bitter Pills: A Similarity Index of Donald Trump & Jimoh Ibrahim
by Bolu John Folayan PhD, mnipr macspin
The American presidential elections will continue to be the talk of the town for some time to come. Mr. Donald “Loudmouth” Trump, the one that grabs them by the pussy, is back in power as president of one of the most powerful countries on earth, the USA. In academics, there is something we call “Similarity Index” – trying to see the extent to which our works are original or similar to other people.
In one of such chit-chats, on WhatsApp, on the American elections, I pointed out the striking similarities between the American president-elect and our own Senator Jimoh Ibrahim. One of the group members tackled me, dismissing any comparison between Trump and Jimoh, and I then reminded him that I am not only a journalist, I am an academic. I write dispassionately. I don't do jeunalism, a theory I have developed and published articles on in learned journals. A journalist is supposed to be a witness not an interested party. Whenever I have a personal interest in issues, I declare such interest so that those who rely on me on my analysis won't be disappointed. There is an uncle of mine who always called me to analyze elections for them and I have only missed it once. Why I succeeded was that I gave unbiased analysis. Interpretative writing is different from opinion writing.
So I DM the guy and my first line was: “Do not say because you dislike a person, so you use that to assess the person.” By the time I did my analysis of the two billionaires, he took a bow. Here is what I did:
BACKGROUND: Both Donald Trump and Jimoh Ibrahim are from poor backgrounds. They are both self-made billionaires. They fought poverty with all their might and conquered it.
NATURE OF BUSINESS: Both Trump and Ibrahim made the bulk of their wealth from property and real estate.
PSYCHOGRAPHY: Both are strongly opinionated. They are somewhat social deviants who stay with their convictions regardless of being politically or socially correct. In manner of language, they are often brash. But in the next minute they are the most humble people you can see around. They are both extroverts. They are billionaires who do not like floating with the rich and wealthy in form of class dominance. They flow with ordinary people that is why people do not give them the respect they give to other billionaires.
RELATIONSHIP WITH JOURNALISTS: Both have cult followership in the media which is sharply divided. A section of the media loves them, while the other hates them. Both are newsmakers any day. They know what to say to grab the headlines. They both owned media organizations at some time. The media built them and the media tried to pull them but they have learned enough to even manipulate the media whenever they want.
POLITICS: Both do not have political godfathers and don't care. As far as they are concerned, it is the pact with the people that matters. When Trump first contested, he literally fought top leaders of the Republican Convention, his party. He told them he had enough money to win the primaries and the election and he did. Ibrahim has a similar trait. While he respects elders of the party, he does not believe in godfatherism. Both are not swayed by popular opinions. To convince them you have to be convincing. It does not matter if they are the only two in a million that hold a viewpoint, so long as they are convinced that is the right view, they hold on to it.
RHETORIC STYLE: Both of them say it as it is, no matter whose ox is gored. Trump's comments are more lethal… like calling Kamala Harris “silly and empty-head,” calling Joe Biden “crooked Joe” and getting away with it. When his NICON Insurance was seized from him during the Yar’Adua Administration, Ibrahim called out the minister, “Did I buy the company with your father's money.” Some people believe that if Ibrahim could talk in more gentle manners, he would get far in politics. But, like Trump, he does not care. “How can you compare someone with three PhDs with someone with two credit passes, the rest is P8 and F9?” he once said, referring during the APC internal wrangling. And both of them can boast about their credentials and abilities! Give them a written speech, they hardly would read it but rather would speak extempore.
AS STRATEGISTS: Donald Trump does not follow established patterns in doing his things. Go and check his records and history. And this resonates with Jimoh Ibrahim's. They are very original in the way they approach issues, always thinking outside the box. Ibrahim once defined 'strategy' to me as “when everyone is going to West, head to the East but keep focus on why you are going.” They do not believe anything is impossible once you have the right strategy.
RELIGION: Both are Christians and they believe that whoever they are has been made possible by the Almighty God.
The above similarity index check does not mean these two achievers don't differ in some ways too. In fact, I am sure SJI won't agree with me on some of my analysis. There was a time he told me he is not an “extrovert.” I laughed and laughed. Who you come be? Introvert? Most successful people share attributes. Instead of learning their arts and seeing what we can pick or throw away, we throw the baby away with the bath water.
Do you know that President Bola Tinubu also has a lot of the aforementioned attributes? Most self-made millionaires (who did not inherit their wealth) are deviants, for example. Go check out. They are great strategists. Instead of teaching billionaires how to make money why don't we pick aspects of what made them millionaires and try out, perhaps you can be a millionaire too? Just a conjecture. Ko si eni ti ko ni but, all that matters is how you navigate your way
to success legitimately.