September 24, (THEWILL) – Veteran stand-up comedian and actor, Atunyota Akpobome, popularly known as Ali Baba, has shared how his plan to have a son with his 59-year-old wife, Mary, unexpectedly led to the birth of triplets.
Alibaba already has two sons from a previous relationship. He explained that his wife had a strong desire for a son, especially after their children had travelled abroad, leaving the house feeling empty.
The comedian said she initially considered adopting more children but later decided she would prefer to have her own.
This, he said, led them to pursue In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF), intending to fertilise two eggs, hoping for at least one successful pregnancy.
Ali Baba added that things took an unexpected turn when one of the fertilised eggs split into two, resulting in triplets instead of their original plan.
He 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 singer Ayodeji Balogun aka Wizkid and attending Parent Teachers Association (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.’
“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 IVF fails so let’s do two.”
He said he agreed to fertilise two eggs after her request.
“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 were like sometimes when we ask God for one million, he gives you two million. When God wants to bless you, you don’t know how he wants to bless you, he will just do it.
“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’s now three. Then we have three boys,” he added.
On April 1, he announced the birth of his triplets.
