The comedian recounted an occasion in Abuja where he was tasked with showcasing the Akwa Ibom ethnic group in a recent episode of the Leadership Podcast.
Ali Baba 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.“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.
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.
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.”
Watch him speak in the video below
