Veteran Nigerian comedian Alibaba recently disclosed a personal story about how his decision to pursue a career in comedy over becoming a lawyer led to a decade-long estrangement from his father.
In the Christmas edition of The Honest Bunch Podcast, Alibaba shared the moment he left university to inform his father about his decision to become a comedian.
The revelation caused a rift, prompting Alibaba to leave home. Determined to prove his father wrong, he made it a personal mission to become a successful comic.
The story sheds light on the challenges Alibaba faced in pursuit of his passion and the eventual success he achieved in the world of comedy.
Alibaba said;
“My dad is a bookworm. He got his PhD at 86. I told him, I said, ‘Daddy, I came from school to tell you something.’ He said, ‘Okay, have you been rusticated?’ I said, ‘No. I’ve decided that I don’t want to read law. I want to do comedy.’
“He asked, ‘Comedy like what?’ I said, ‘Like cracking jokes.’ He laughed and asked my younger brother to call my uncle who lived close by. When my uncle came, he asked what the matter was and I said I didn’t want to read law again and that I wanted to do comedy. He said that means I’ve found another father, stressing that I can’t be part of the family and won’t read law. He said all the money my dad spent on me was wasted. He told my dad to handle the situation and left.
“I knew I couldn’t sleep in that house because my dad would beat me. So as my uncle was going out, I followed him to lock the burglary and I didn’t go back in. And my dad and I didn’t talk from 1988 – 1998. Ten years. I tried to reach out to him. I went one time to talk to him but he didn’t want to see me.
“This was the thing. So people ask, ‘Where did you get the inspiration to become a great comedian?’ I was committed. I was like I want to prove him [my Dad] wrong.”