[1] Nababan moved to Sioux City, Iowa, United States, in 1988 to continue his studies through a student exchange.

He enrolled in the Department of Journalism of Midland Lutheran College, Fremont, Nebraska, at the age of 16.

[2] During his time in college, he held a part-time job as a security guard for two years.

[2] In 2008, PDI Perjuangan offered to make him a legislative candidate for the party in the 2009 election, but he refused.

[5] In the 2019 Indonesian legislative election, Nababan ran as a PDI-P candidate from Jakarta's 1st electoral district and won a seat in the House of Representatives.