Veteran stand-up comedian Atunyota Akpobome, widely recognized as Ali Baba, recently recounted how his intention to have another son with his wife, Mary, at the age of 59 unexpectedly resulted in the birth of triplets.

During a podcast interview on Leadership Podcast with Stephen Akintayo, Ali Baba shared that his wife felt a strong urge for another son, particularly after their children moved abroad, which left their home feeling quite empty. Initially, she contemplated adopting additional children but ultimately decided she wanted to conceive naturally.

This led them to explore In Vitro Fertilisation, with the goal of fertilizing two eggs in hopes of achieving at least one successful pregnancy.

However, the situation took an unforeseen turn when one of the fertilized eggs divided, resulting in triplets rather than the single child they had anticipated.

“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.

“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.”

He confirmed his consent to fertilize two eggs at her request.

“So, I said, let’s do two and then one of the eggs slitted 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 to? She said the eggs split into two” and I said it was two we were looking for and she said it now three. Then we have three boys.”

On April 1st, an individual made a public declaration regarding the arrival of their triplets.

Despite the initial skepticism, with some dismissing it as a jest associated with April Fools’ Day, the veracity of the announcement was confirmed when the triplets underwent a dedication ceremony in Lagos.