He is widely read and known in Anglophone Africa for his strong opinions on literature and politics which has won him many admirers and also made him very controversial.

His essays on novels by African writers are widely read, and his opinions on books have often caused a stir in the literary world, including brief face-offs between him and the authors.

Tram 83, having won the 2015 Etisalat Prize for Literature and been described by the Guardian as "the African novel wowing the literary world", looked set to become a classic.

But Ikheloa published an essay on his blog, pointing out the book's misogyny and inadequate portrayal of Africans as people who only eat, drink and have sexual intercourse.

[1] After a long argument, which took place for days in the media among some of Africa's biggest literary names, including Tsitsi Dangarembga, Petina Gappah, Zukiswa Wanner, Bwesigye Wa Mugire, Richard Oduor Oduku, the conversation around the book changed forever.

In the 1990s, after having lived in the United States for a decade, Ikheloa linked up with a few friends and bigwigs, including Wole Soyinka, Beko Ransome Kuti, in a platform known as Naijanet to fight for MKO Abiola's stolen mandate.

During Abacha's regime, Ikhide was a frequent guest at Radio Kudirat, one of the effective initiatives formed in Nigeria at the time to combat tyranny.

The problem now is that many writers are skewing their written perspectives to fit what they imagine will sell to the West and the judges of the Caine Prize...." In 2014, at the height of the build-up to the General elections in 2015, Ikheloa fell out with a large part of the literary society in Nigeria for fiercely opposing writers and literary community who supported General Muhammadu Buhari's Presidency.

In 2017, he called for the boycotting of the Kaduna Books and Arts Festival (KABAFEST) in its inaugural year on the grounds that its host, Mallam.

[6][7] In September 2022, at the James Currey Festival at Oxford University, England, Ikheloa, during his acceptance speech of the Lifetime Achievement Award for literary criticism, advocated for more digital publishing opportunities in Nigeria.

The 57-year-old's no-holds-barred approach has earned his Twitter account, @ikhide, a substantial following, many of whom are political officials awaiting his next tirade.

His view relates that progress on the African literary front is closely tied to its acceptance of the present status quo.

In his acceptance speech at the James Currey Literary Festival in the United Kingdom (UK), he said: "The greatest tragedy of modern literature is that those who are invested in the past, those who are welded to the book, hold strong sway over the trajectory of the world's stories.