Veteran comedian Atunyota Alleluya Akpobome, popularly known as Alibaba, recently shared a personal story about a decade-long estrangement with his father due to his decision to pursue a career in comedy instead of law.
During an episode of The Honest Bunch Podcast's Christmas edition, Alibaba recounted the moment when he disclosed to his father his intention to pursue comedy instead of a legal career. He recalled leaving university to inform his father of this decision, which resulted in his father's strong disapproval and a subsequent rift that led him to leave home.
He described the conversation with his father, stating, "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.’”
Alibaba continued, sharing his father's reaction, “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." He recounted that his uncle's response was harsh, indicating that Alibaba would not be accepted in the family if he did not pursue law as planned. This led to a deepening of the conflict between Alibaba and his father.
He explained how the situation led him to take a drastic step: "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."
Alibaba expressed that this difficult period fueled his determination to succeed as a comedian despite the estrangement from his father. He reflected on how this challenging experience served as a driving force behind his commitment to proving his father wrong and achieving success in his chosen field.