Nigerian renowned comedian Ali Baba described his interaction with former military commander Gen Sani Abacha as a “near-death experience”.
He revealed this during the Leadership Podcast with Stephen Akintayo.
According to him, the incident occurred during Abacha’s administration at a gathering in Abuja where Ali Baba was supposed to introduce the Akwa Ibom cultural group.
“The first close encounter I had with death was with Sani Abacha. When Abacha was President, Ernest Shonekan had been removed so I went to do an event in Abuja and it was time for the Akwa ibom cultural group to perform. At the time, Abacha was wearing one of those sunglasses that could be folded,” he recalled.
Ali Baba openly urged Abacha to remove his folded sunglasses, saying, “So then they started dancing I stopped them and faced Abacha, saying, ‘your excellency, sir, it’s almost 10; why are you wearing Dark shades? Don’t you want to see their performance? Remove this shade na,’” he narrated.
He claimed Abacha obliged, but tensions rose when he observed DSS men heading backstage.
“He then removed the glasses and was talking to someone and when he kept the glasses I told the troupe to continue. As soon as they started, I saw the DSS officers going backstage to wait for God knows who o.”
Fearing for his life, he stated he chose to sit next to Abacha rather than go backstage, where the operatives awaited.
“I went down the stage to where Abacha was and sat on the ground next to him. He made jokes of me and asked why I refused to go backstage and I said , ‘Don’t worry, sir, they can come and arrest me here,” he concluded.
The New Daily Prime recalls that Ali Baba revealed how his plan to have one more son with his wife, Mary, at the age of 59, unexpectedly resulted in the birth of triplets.
Ali Baba revealed that his wife had a great yearning for another son, particularly after their children had gone overseas, leaving the house feeling empty.
The comedian said this on Monday at a Leadership Podcast with Stephen Akintayo.
He stated that she first pondered adopting more children but subsequently decided she preferred to have her own.
This, he added, encouraged them to seek In Vitro Fertilisation, with the goal of fertilising two eggs and achieving at least one successful pregnancy.
He stated that things took an unexpected turn when one of the fertilised eggs broke into two, resulting in triplets rather than the intended plan.
“Madam had always wanted to have a son. She had two daughters and we talked about it. So, I told her I didn’t want to be having school runs, joining Wizkid and attending PTA meetings. One truth is the net becomes empty when all the children have to go abroad to study and the discussion comes up again.
“By the way, she had said wanted to adopt two or three children to take care of them. One day, she then said instead of adopting, let’s just have our own. I was like ok but the way the economy is and she replied you said the economy is bad, I said yes and she said, have you stopped paying house rent for people I said no. She asked again, “Have you stopped paying school fees and I said no,” he said in part.
On April 1, he shared the exciting news of the birth of his triplets. However, many skeptics dismissed it as an April Fools’ joke. The announcement was solidified when the triplets were dedicated in Lagos, turning doubt into celebration for many.
By Adiele C.
