In a recent episode of the Leadership Podcast with Stephen Akintayo, well-known Nigerian comedian Ali Baba opened up about a frightening experience he had with the late General Sani Abacha, the former military ruler of Nigeria. He described this encounter as a “near-death experience” that left him shaken.
The event took place during Abacha’s presidency in Abuja, where Ali Baba was asked to introduce a cultural group from Akwa Ibom.
He said, “The first close encounter I had with death was with Sani Abacha. When Abacha was President, Ernest Shonekan had been removed so I went to do an event in Abuja and it was time for the Akwa ibom cultural group to perform. At the time, Abacha was wearing one of those sunglasses that could be folded”.
During his introduction, he boldly approached Abacha and requested that he remove his sunglasses. To his surprise, Abacha complied, which caught the audience’s attention.
He said, “So then they started dancing I stopped them and faced Abacha, saying, ‘your excellency, sir, it’s almost 10; why are you wearing Dark shades? Don’t you want to see their performance? Remove this shade na.”
However, the atmosphere changed quickly when Ali Baba noticed officers from the Department of State Services (DSS) moving towards the backstage area. Feeling a sense of danger, he realized that going backstage might put him at risk. In a moment of quick thinking, he decided to stay close to Abacha instead, hoping that being next to the powerful leader would keep him safe.
“He then removed the glasses and was talking to someone and when he kept the glasses I told the troupe to continue. As soon as they started, I saw the DSS officers going backstage to wait for God knows who o,” he added.
Ali Baba’s story highlights not only his courage but also the tense atmosphere of that time in Nigeria. It serves as a reminder of the unpredictable nature of political environments and the risks individuals sometimes face in such situations.
“I went down the stage to where Abacha was and sat on the ground next to him. He made jokes of me and asked why I refused to go backstage and I said , ‘Don’t worry, sir, they can come and arrest me here,” he concluded.
