He was described by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle as a northern Nigerian "literary provocateur" amidst the international acclaim his award-winning novel Season of Crimson Blossoms received in 2016.

[6] In 2014 he was selected for the Africa39 list of writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define future trends in African literature,[7][8] and was included in the anthology Africa39: New Writing from Africa South of the Sahara (ed.

[15] In 2016, Ibrahim was the recipient of the Goethe-Institut & Sylt Foundation African Writer's Residency Award[16] and in March 2020 he was a Dora Maar Fellow.

[18] It was translated into French by Marc Amfreville, published by L'Editions de l'Observatoire in 2018 [19] and nominated for the Prix Femina Étranger.

Ibrahim worked at the Daily Trust newspaper for over a decade in a variety of roles, latterly as Features Editor, before leaving to pursue postgraduate studies.