Renowned comedian Atunyota Akpobome, aka Ali Baba, has opened up about welcoming triplets at 59.
In a recent conversation on the Leadership Podcast, Ali Baba said he and his wife, Mary, initially planned to have one more son, driven by Mary’s desire for another child after their kids left for abroad to study.
The couple considered adoption but opted for In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) instead, intending to fertilise two eggs.
However, fate had other plans as one egg split into two, resulting in triplets.
Recounting Mary’s persuasive argument that influenced his decision, Ali Baba said: “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 nest becomes empty when all the children have to go abroad to study and the discussion comes up again.
“By the way, she had 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.
“We have a foundation, the Purple Girl Foundation, taking care of over 120 people in schools from primary to university. Beyond that foundation, we have people we are paying school fees for and people we are sending to law school. So, she said all those people you are helping, do you remember the economy?
“She said if you think about it, the reason why God put you in this position might be more than taking care of yourself. So I said okay, let’s do one and she now said if we do one you know that IVFD fails so let’s do two.
“So, I said, let’s do two and then one of the eggs split into two and that was how it became three. When it became three she and the doctor knew that it had become three but they didn’t want to tell me. So they they were like sometimes when we ask God for one million, he gives you two million. When God want to bless you you don’t know how he wants to bless you, he will just do.
“So, I was like where is this going? She said the eggs split into two and I said it was two we were looking for and she said it is now three. Then we have three boys.”
(The Nation)
