Alibaba: How my wife persuaded me to father triplets

Alibaba, the Nigerian comedian, has revealed how Mary Akpobome, his wife, persuaded him to father triplets.

The 59-year-old comedian and Mary welcomed their triplet in April. The couple also held their children’s dedication ceremony in Lagos.

In a recent interview on the Leadership podcast, Alibaba said Mary’s longing for a son triggered their journey to have more children.

The comedian said with their two daughters studying abroad, Mary felt the emptiness of their home.

He said she initially wanted to adopt three children but they later agreed to have their kids through in vitro fertilization. IVF involves combining the woman’s eggs and sperm outside the body in a lab.

“Madam had always wanted to have a son. She had two daughters and we talked about it,” he said.

“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 care for 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.”

Alibaba said he agreed to one child, but Mary suggested two to account for potential IVF failures. He said to their surprise, one egg split into two, resulting in triplets.

“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 continued.

“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 God wants to bless you, you don’t know how he wants to bless you, he will just do it.

“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.”

Born Atunyota Alleluya Akpobome, the comedian married Mary in 2006.