Mrs Rose Idibia, a retired teacher and proud mother of Nigeria’s music legend, Innocent Idibia, popularly known as 2Baba, was one of the guests who graced 2Baba’s birthday dinner and album listening party, held at Balmoral Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, last weekend. She could not hide her excitement seeing her son jumping up and down, hugging and exchanging pleasantries with his guests. For her, 2Baba is a chosen child, and that is why despite what he went through in recent times in his music career and marriage, he is still standing. In this chat, she reflects on how he developed passion for music, and their initial plans for him.
When you gave birth to 2Baba Idibia, did you expect what he has turned out to become today?
No, no, no, no. When you give birth, you cannot predict the future of a child, because that one is determined by God. But as a mother, you keep praying that the child will turn out to be something that will bring honour to his parents.
So, what was the story behind 2Baba’s birth?
There was a premonition that he might be a musician, but we didn’t know how great he was going to be. He had that trait of singing from the beginning. You know, as a child, he would be alone, beating anything he lays his hand on, he starts making music out of it. So… we saw that trait, but we didn’t know that he was going to be this big.
So, there was no music in your family?
There is music in my family, but, you know, that time, music was not taken as anything in my own time. But as a growing child in my father’s house, I had that trait. It’s just that I was discouraged because our culture then did not allow, especially women, to go into secular music in those days. They don’t allow you. Our parents were always after, “You must go to school, you must have your education first, then after education, marriage.” You know, that sort of thing. So, I had the trait, but I was not encouraged to pursue it. And that’s why I’m very happy that a child of mine came up with it and succeeded.
But when he told you he was going into music, what was the response like?
Initially, just like I told you, we were all concerned about his education. We wanted him to go to school, go to the university, maybe become either a lawyer, a doctor, an engineer, or something like that. This type of thing always rings bell in our head. But when he chose a music path, then our eyes were already opened. We saw a kind of potentiality in him. We saw potentials that he might do better in music. As a teacher then, though retired now, we always encourage children to pursue their interest. You know, if you don’t allow children to pursue their interest, you will kill the interest and they will not do well in the other field you are pushing them to pursue. So, when we saw the potential of being a good musician in him, of course, we gave up. We allowed him to pursue it.
As somebody who has been in the spotlight for a long time, so many issues trailing, the good, the bad, the ugly. As a mother, how have you been able to withstand all those controversies surrounding your son?
What kept him going is that some of the things that have been published about him in the dailies and online, many of them are not true. So, you know, if people are attacking you, you know yourself. It might hurt you, but because you know the truth, you can weather it. We know the truth about him. He’s my son. I know what he can do, and I know what he cannot do. And, you know, the celebrities of these days, sometimes they don’t just stay and commit sin by themselves. People force them. You know, he has gone through a lot. Lies upon him… newspapers or whatever, all these social media, they come up with all sorts of rubbish. But I thank God because he’s somebody who knows what he wants. And he forged ahead and made it. He may not be super rich, but he made it in music. The major aim about him being a musician is to make a mark which he has made in the public. So… whether the society takes it or not, he has made it in music. He’s a legend. In as far as Nigeria is concerned, 2Baba is a legend.
When you listen to his music, does it remind you of anything or do you feel the same?
Yes! I feel elated! Then I keep thinking that this guy is highly talented. He is extremely talented, because some of the things he says in his music, you will be thinking, “How did he think about this?” Look at the latest title of his coming album: “The Oldest Young Man.” Can you imagine the meaning of that title? The Oldest Young Man, you know. And he’s really the oldest young man, because he started this Afrobeats music. But now, because society made him where he is now, it’s like starting all over again. Meanwhile, he was the oldest… He was first there, but now, you know, he’s being looked at as somebody who is starting again. To me, that’s the meaning I read to the title of this coming album.
You said it already that most of the things said about him were not true. What would you say about the people around him — his family, society?
Let me say God has been on his side. With all the hullabaloo, the noise, God is still with him. You know, God loves him so much, because if it were to be any other person, he would have been broken down. But he’s a chosen child. And, you know, they say this tongue has power. His earlier songs, one of them said, “Whoever God has made, nobody can curse.” I think he’s living that track till today. God has already chosen him to be great in music, so all the stones, bullets from all over, it’s not touching him as it should, because God has already made him great. Nobody can curse whom God has blessed. And like the society you are talking about, ah, he’s loved by the society. I think you notice that. 2Baba, Innocent Idibia, is a loved child by the society. Sometimes, when I follow him to an event, and I see the way people clamour around him, wanting to touch him, wanting to do this one, to snap with him, “Ah-ah, is it not this my son?” I’ll be asking myself. He is a blessed child
