This chapter focuses on the political economy of Claude Ake, particularly his theoretical matrix, its evolution from sheer liberalism and transformation to radical political economy—a neo-Marxian analysis of the post-colonial state in Africa—to underline its exploitative character and relations of domination while projecting democratic and popular alternatives. Simultaneously, it examines his political thoughts and the insight he offers into the understanding of the state, politics and economy in sub-Saharan Africa and Nigeria in particular. It argues that Ake’s theoretical handle, and the simple but rigorous ways he wields it, marks the turning point in his career as a political scientist and public intellectual. Some of his key works are succinctly reviewed to underscore this point. Apart from scholarship, it is argued that his efforts at establishing the Centre for Advanced Social Sciences (CASS), a think tank for social science research, underline his praxis. The chapter concludes on a mixed note—apprehensive about continuity of Ake’s scholarly tradition by succeeding generations while exhorting younger generation of scholars in the continent to follow his footstep to deepen their critical consciousness in engaging with the African reality.