Identical Triplets Whose Birthday Photos Went Viral Open Up on Growing Up, Playing Pranks & More

Identical triplets, Peter, James and John Obidiegwu were born 2 minutes apart and all studied Engineering. The trio whose birthday photos recently went viral spilled on growing up in a large family, being mistaken for one another, even by their dad and siblings, playing pranks and lots more in an interesting chat with Punch. Read excerpts below.

What was growing up like for you as a triplet?

Peter: I would say it hasn’t been smooth all through but generally it has been very good. Being triplets is similar to being celebrities because people always stare at us wherever we go. We grew up in the South-West and the Yoruba people believe that twins are a blessing, so wherever we went to, we were always admired. Sometimes, people would tell us to pray for them or lay hands on them. So, it was fun growing up but not too rosy.

James: I agree with what Peter has said. Getting used to the attention was not easy. It was very difficult not to draw attention to ourselves. I think we are used to it now but it wasn’t always fun when we were much younger.

We’ve had an experience where a group of girls saw me first and then Peter passed and then the girls started whispering to themselves and then John passed and the next thing the girls said was ‘God forbid.’ That was very upsetting and because we didn’t know what that expression meant, we felt really bad.

John: We had a lot of experiences, especially of how people reacted whenever they saw the three of us together, when we were in school. We attended the same schools, right from primary school to university. People respect us, and sometimes, we get favours because we are triplets. There are so many experiences, I cannot really pick out a particular one.

Who is the oldest among the three of you?

Peter: (Laughs) That is the first question people always ask us whenever they meet us and what we say is what we were told when we were young. Our dad told us that he did not know who the oldest is because when we were born, they didn’t take note of who came out first because they were too excited. But he said the doctor told him that I am the oldest, my mum said it is James and my dad said it is John, so they just agreed to believe that none of us came out first, I think they were trying to avoid conflict among us so they just told us that they don’t know who came out first. However, we all came out two minutes apart.

John: Our parents said I was born a little past midnight. They also said I came out last. I was told it was a two-minute gap.

How many children are you altogether?

Peter: We are a very large family. The children are nine in number and we are the last three children. Our father was the only child of his parents and so he had six children at first which were four girls and two boys. When the last born was about eight years old, my parents wanted just one more baby boy but they got three instead.

Did you use your identical looks to play pranks on people when you were young?

Peter: People don’t believe but we are actually very good boys. However, we played a few pranks (laughs). The pranks were not intentional. For instance, when we were in school, if one of us could not go to class or was indisposed, one of us would represent the indisposed one, or sometimes, when we are driving together and I forget to hold my driving licence and we are stopped by the police, I can quickly present one of my brother’s driving licence to them and they will let us pass. I remember one funny incident when were travelling from school and policemen stopped us. They searched the three of us and found nothing and we started laughing. The policemen threatened to arrest us for impersonation. I won’t say we play pranks as much as people expect us to. Some even assume that we may be using the same passport because in the past, it was possible to use one passport but because of biometric data, one can no longer do that.

James: I don’t know whether to call it a prank but my biggest one is whenever I am in an awkward situation and I am trying to avoid a talkative person. When the person greets me saying ‘hi James, what’s up?’ I just tell the person that I am Peter and then the person leaves me alone. I think I did that a lot in school. Sometimes, we do it to females. It happens to people who don’t know that we are triplets.

I was a prefect in secondary school but nobody knew who the actual prefect was because we are identical. What I did was to make two extra badges and give them to my brothers. Anytime my brothers came late to school, they would enter the school premises as prefects and would escape punishment. Sometimes, I would be at the gate punishing students that resumed late and when my brothers wanted to enter the school premises, they would signal to me and I would go hide somewhere, then they would enter the school premises at different times, pretending to be me. But there was a day a teacher caught us and I was punished for it.

John: Yes, we played some pranks. When we were kids. Whenever I had an issue with someone and was trying to avoid that person, I could always easily deny that it wasn’t me whenever the person confronted me. Also, if I saw someone I did not really want to talk to, I would just pretend as if I was not the person being referred to.

Are you all married?

James: No, we are all single.

John: Right now I am single, but hopefully soon, though. My siblings are also not in any relationship that I know of.

How have your girlfriends been able to distinguish you from one another?

James: I think it has always been a challenge for the girls but we are good boys (laughs). Girls are usually careful with us so they look for features that distinguish us…

How was it growing up with six other children? Were your siblings able to differentiate you?

James: I know one of my sisters who even if I call her on the phone, she would be able to know it is me just from the sound of my voice. But my other siblings don’t even know the difference between us and even our dad used to mix up our names so he just gave up. At a point, he would call me Peter or John and I would answer.

My father used to punish us collectively because he felt that there was no way I would do something bad without first informing my brothers. So, he would say, ‘all of you planned this together’ or he would say, ‘why did you allow your brother to do this?’As a child, it made me unhappy sometimes but we used to cover up for each other. For instance, if my dad asks ‘who did this?’ I can never say it was Peter and John will never say it was me.

John:  At first, it is always difficult. Even our (late) dad also mixed us up sometimes. Also, the people that mix us most are the wives and husbands of our older siblings. Till date, they still find it hard to differentiate us. So, they just call the three of us one particular name, say James. Some friends popularly call us, Peter, Peterer and Peterest.

Can your mother tell you apart?

James: I don’t know whether she could because she died when we were very young. We were about 10 years old. But I am sure she would have been able to tell the difference among us…

What are the things that differentiate one from the other like favourite food, colour etc?

Peter: Sincerely, when I tell people, they think we are telling lies. We all love and hate the same kinds of food. We don’t like yam, we don’t like beans. We love rice a lot. We like colour blue. We all support Arsenal football club and it is not as if we planned it. We just noticed that we loved the same club. Also, we all love mathematics. Our dad wanted the three of us to be doctors but we all opted for Engineering.

John: Strangely, we all have same hobbies. We love to watch football and love same genre of music. We also have similar choice of clothes.

Do you have the same friends?

James: I feel I don’t have a lot of friends because I feel my brothers have taken the spot of close friends.

John: We are always together and we share things together a lot. It’s a way of life for me.

Would you like to have identical twins or triplets as children?

James: Yes, of course

Peter: Definitely. I have always dreamt of having twin girls and twin boys but if triplets come, I will like it. We have always loved children. Sometimes, when babies see us, they get excited while some other times, they cry out of fear.

Are you planning to marry on the same day or wed triplets?

Peter: Well, it is not impossible. It is easier for male triplets to get married on the same day than for female triplets to get married on the same day. It is not a must but not impossible.

John: Many people have asked me this question about whether we would want to marry triplets. It is what God wants for us. It is a good idea though. The most important thing is being around someone that completes one and not necessarily whether that person is a twin or a triplet.

James: Why do people always ask me this question? We could date triplet girls for the fun of it but marriage is too important to be treated in such a manner. If we marry triplet sisters, there will be lot of hype but after the hype, what happens? It has to be about love, communication and commitment. But of course, I have thought about it and it would be fun to be married to people that have had similar experiences with one.

Photo credit: Punch