In the swirling drama of Nollywood’s endless scandal mill, dancer and content creator Amarachi Igidimbah has drawn a firm line in the sand—or rather, on her Instagram Story—declaring her unwavering commitment to monogamy amid backlash over a cheeky video with polygamy poster boy Yul Edochie.
The 32-year-old, a former BBNaija housemate turned empowerment advocate, sparked the firestorm last week when she dropped a lighthearted skit featuring Edochie, the 43-year-old actor infamous for his 2023 bombshell announcement of a second wife, Judy Austin. In the clip, the duo bantered about “relationship goals,” with Amarachi playfully roasting Yul’s unconventional family setup while striking sassy poses in a studio setup that screamed viral bait. “When your ex tries to slide back in,” Amarachi captioned it, complete with laughing emojis and a tag to Yul’s handle. The video exploded, racking up over 2 million views on TikTok and Instagram, but not without a torrent of shade from netizens accusing her of “endorsing adultery” or “thirsting for clout with a homewrecker.”
Undeterred, Amarachi fired back on Sunday with a no-holds-barred Instagram Live that has since been clipped and shared across platforms. “I stand for monogamy—full stop,” she asserted, her voice steady as she addressed the keyboard warriors head-on. “One man, one woman, building an empire together. That’s my truth, my values, and what I’m teaching my daughter. Yul is a colleague, a friend in the industry, and that video was just fun content. If you can’t separate art from my life, that’s your projection, not my problem.” She didn’t shy away from the polygamy elephant: “I’ve been vocal about loyalty since my own marriage journey. Yul’s choices are his; mine are mine. Stop dragging me into your moral policing.”
The response taps into a raw nerve in Nigeria’s pop culture discourse, where celebrities’ personal lives are dissected like national policy. Yul Edochie, whose marital saga—from his 17-year union with first wife May to his public embrace of Judy—has polarized fans into “team fidelity” and “team freedom” camps, remains a lightning rod. Just last month, he stirred fresh controversy with a sermon-like post defending polygamy as “African tradition,” drawing fire from feminists and cheers from traditionalists. Amarachi’s collab, meant as harmless banter, got caught in the crossfire, with critics like influencer @NaijaMoralWatch tweeting: “Amarachi dancing with a serial cheater? Where’s the girl boss energy now?”—a post that garnered 5,000 retweets before deletions rolled in.
But Amarachi’s clapback has rallied her base. Supporters flooded her comments with fire emojis and testimonials: “Queen standing tall! Monogamy gang rise up,” posted @EmpoweredMomsNG, while another quipped, “Yul’s got enough drama; let sis create without the hate.” Her stance echoes a broader shift among young Nigerian women creators, who are increasingly blending humor with hard lines on boundaries—think Toke Makinwa’s unfiltered marriage memoirs or Mo Abudu’s fidelity-focused TEDx talks. Amarachi, married to businessman Ifeanyi Ufom since 2021 and mom to a toddler, has built her brand on “unapologetic authenticity,” from dance tutorials to mental health vlogs. This isn’t her first rodeo; post-BBNaija in 2018, she weathered body-shaming storms by launching a plus-size activewear line.
As the video’s views climb past 3 million, Amarachi teased more content: “Next up? Monogamy myths busted—with zero drama kings.” Yul, for his part, liked her response post but stayed silent, perhaps wisely dodging another headline.
In a world where one skit can summon the morality police, Amarachi’s reminder rings clear: Collabs don’t equal endorsements, and personal vows trump public noise. Will the trolls back off, or is this just intermission in the endless scroll of shade?