Ali Baba Recounts Near Death Experience With General Abacha

During his latest visit on the Leadership Podcast, he recalled the tight environment around a certain performance during Abacha’s presidency and pondered on the situation.

He had been assigned to introduce the Akwa Ibom cultural group, who were scheduled to perform at the occasion in Abuja.

“My first near-death experience was with Sani Abacha,” Ali Baba recounted.

“Ernest Shonekan had been removed during Abacha’s presidency, so I went to an occasion in Abuja when the Akwa Ibom cultural group was scheduled to perform. Abacha was sporting one of those foldable sunglasses at the time.”

The comedian recounted his brave decision to confront Abacha immediately and beg him to remove his sunglasses.

“And then they started dancing. I stopped them and confronted Abacha, saying, ‘Your excellency, sir, it’s almost 10 p.m.; why are you wearing dark shades? Don’t you want to watch their performance? “Remove this shade, na,” he explained.

“He then removed the spectacles and began talking to someone, and while he kept the glasses, I urged the troupe to continue. As soon as they started, I noticed the DSS officers moving backstage to wait for God knows who.”

Alibaba described how, in a moment of anxiety, he sat next to the iron-fisted president rather than going backstage, where the DSS agents were.

“I went down the stage to where Abacha was and sat on the ground beside him. He made fun of me and questioned why I refused to go backstage, to which I replied, ‘Don’t worry, sir, they can come and arrest me here.

In an unusual twist of events, Abacha offered him the sunglasses as a gift.