Emmanuel Ejekwu
Nigerian comedian, Emmanuel Ejekwu, popularly known as Sabinus, has opened up about his early struggles for acceptance from his father after choosing comedy as a career.
Speaking in an interview with VJ Adams, Sabinus revealed that his father had always hoped he would become a lawyer. However, after failing to gain admission to study law, he opted for Linguistics and Communication Studies at the University of Port Harcourt—where he eventually discovered his flair for skit making.
He recalled that his father was deeply disappointed when he first learnt that his son had ventured into comedy.
“After I graduated, my dad never knew I was a comedian because I was hiding it,” Sabinus said. “One year after school, he started seeing me on comedy show posters. My sisters confirmed it to him. He was very furious. He said, ‘Which comedy? Stupid business. Look at the boy I sent to become a lawyer.’”
According to him, the early days of skit making came with financial struggles, which further fuelled his father’s disapproval.
Sabinus added that things eventually changed when he began earning well from comedy and started gifting money to his father.
With his father’s full blessing now behind him, Sabinus has grown into one of Nigeria’s most recognisable and successful skit makers.