Veteran comedian Atunyota 'Ali Baba' Akpobome has finally revealed why he fathered triplets at the age of 59.
Ali Baba married Mary, 55, chief operating officer of Imperium Capital Partners, in 2006.
The Ambrose Alli University (AAU) alumnus and his wife have five children, three girls and two boys, before the arrival of the triplets.
On April 1, Ali Baba announced the birth of his triplets on his Instagram page, sparking doubts and assumptions that it was an April Fool's joke.
However, PREMIUM TIMES reported that this was true as Ali Baba dedicated his triplets, Alexandra, Andrew and Aaron, at the RCCG Christ The Lord Central Parish in Lagos in May.
In a recent podcast with Stephen Akintayo, Ali Baba revealed that his wife always wanted a child and initially considered adoption.
Ali Baba announced the birth of his triplets (children) on his Instagram page
However, the situation took a new turn when the initial agreement to undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF) for two children as a “backup” in case one attempt failed led to the birth of triplets.
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The 59-year-old said: “The lady always wanted to have a child. She had two daughters and always wanted a child, and we discussed it. It was IVF. I told her I didn’t want to take the kids to school, join Wizkid, attend PTA meetings and create a WhatsApp group. One truth is that the nest becomes empty when all the kids are gone. Two are in the UK and two in Canada, all doing very well already.”
Despite his reservations, he said his wife highlighted the sacrifices they were already making to support others, which reinforced his desire to try to have biological children.
“By the way, she wanted to adopt two or three children to take care of them. One day, she said to me: instead of adopting, let’s have our own children. I said, “Okay, but with the economy,” and she said, “You said the economy is bad,” I said yes, and she asked me, “Have you stopped paying rent for people’s houses?” I said no. She asked me, “Have you stopped paying school fees?” and I said no.
“We have a foundation, the Purple Girl Foundation, which takes care of over 120 people in primary schools, secondary schools and colleges. In addition to that foundation, we have people whose school fees we pay and who we send to law school. So, she said, ‘Do all those people you’re helping remember the economy? ’ I said, ‘That’s true. ’”
“She said if you think about it, the reason God put you in this position could be more than just taking care of yourself. So she told me to do one, I said okay, let’s do one, and now she said if we do one, you know IVF fails, then let’s do two.”
From twins to triplets
He also recounted how his wife and the doctor came up with a way to tell him that the two expected children had become triplets.
He said, “So, I said, let’s make two. And then one of the eggs split into two, and that’s how they became three. When she and the doctor knew that they had become three, they didn’t want to tell me. So they said, God decides everything; sometimes when you ask God for a million, He gives you two million. When God wants to bless you, you don’t know how He wants to bless you; He will go overboard.
“So I thought, where is this all going? She said the eggs split into two, and I said there were two we were looking for, and she said there are now three, three boys.”
Addressing the prospect of caring for the triplets for the next 25 years, Ali Baba mentioned that his elder brothers will take on the responsibility.
“We have agreed that his brothers will divide them up and take them all as their own. We have bequeathed them to him in the will,” he added.
The comedian, however, did not clarify who he was referring to as his “brothers” during the interview.