Welcome back to Gist Circular, where we round up what Abuja spent the week talking about. This time: a marriage that broke up and made up before the gist could even settle, a Vice President who drank the water and a Minister who didn’t, and the hairstyles and tank tops carrying the city through the heat. Let’s get into it.
Abuja’s polygamist strikes again
The timeline has been busy with Ahmed XM, the young crypto influencer and TikTok celebrity. The initial gist was that he’d returned to his first wife, Safiya, after divorcing her earlier this year for his first love and former girlfriend, Safeera. Both women were allegedly pregnant at this time. By the time everyone finished reacting, the story had already turned: Safeera is back online, posting amicably about her husband, Ahmed. So all is well with the celebrity couple…?
These are private people working through a private situation in public view, so we’ll leave the details where they belong. What caught our attention is the timing, because Abuja has been watching this play out the same week the whole continent is glued to The Polygamist on Netflix.
If you haven’t seen it, the South African series has been the talk of town… globally. The story follows Jonasi Gomora, a wealthy businessman whose carefully built family life collapses under the weight of secrets, infidelity and deception. Sound familiar? ….*coughs* Ahmed XM… It’s little wonder why his story traveled so fast.
Polygamy in Nigeria is, statistically, on its way down, driven by education, urbanisation, and economics that no longer support the arrangement. Younger Nigerians, particularly those under 35, overwhelmingly express a preference for monogamous marriage regardless of ethnic or religious background. Supporting multiple wives, multiple homes, and multiple sets of children in a 2026 economy is expensive in a way it wasn’t in the compound-living past.
But — and this is what the Ahmed XM saga illustrates almost perfectly — the impulse doesn’t disappear just because the formal structure is shrinking. Beneath the public debate, the idea of a man having multiple partners remains stubbornly present, manifesting largely as informal arrangements rooted in secrecy rather than the communal accountability that traditionally governed co-wives.
And this isn’t only a Nigerian contradiction. Across the world, “monogamy on paper, something else in practice” is the quiet norm of the modern marriage market. Situationships — I’m sure you’ve heard of her, are a subtle prelude to overlapping entanglements that people swear aren’t relationships. Abuja’s polygamist, much like Jonasi, isn’t an outlier. He’s just less discreet about it.
Ahmed XM’s situation is the local episode that dropped the same week as the global one, and somewhere a group chat is screenshotting all of it.
Shettima drank. Wike didn’t.
On June 22, the government commissioned the Karu Satellite Town Water Supply Network — a 194-kilometre pipeline built in ten months, bringing treated water to Karu, Orozo, Jikwoyi, Kurudu and surrounding communities that had long relied on boreholes and water vendors. Useful, overdue infrastructure for towns that have waited a long time for it.
The ceremony is where things got interesting. Organizers handed glasses to the dignitaries so they could sample the water straight from the new taps and show it was safe. Vice President Kashim Shettima and several officials drank. FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike filled his glass and declined to drink it.
The clip went viral within hours. Some read his refusal as a quiet vote of no confidence in the water reaching residents; others put it down to personal health preference or a security precaution. Nobody outside that room knows for certain.
The water, by every official account, is treated and safe. The optics did their own talking.
5 summer hairstyles for Abuja baddies
The heat has arrived, the humidity is coming for your edges, and the city’s stylists have quietly settled on a rotation. If you want to look like you understood the assignment this season, here’s where the girls have landed:
Pigtails (double Shuku) — the playground classic has now grown all the way up. Two sculpted shuku (or pigtail) sections, double the drama, no apologies. It’s an easy way to snatch your face while still looking youthful.
Mini-braids — This is for the girls with patience or a very good braider. Lightweight, versatile, and they photograph beautifully. You can try with natural hair or with extensions, either way, this is a style that is comfortable and gets finer with age.
Short boho braids — the curly tendrils do the work here. Effortless in the way that quietly takes four hours but that’s the only quiet thing about this style. You’ll be sure to turn heads wherever you go.
The Bob — sleek, sharp, and impossible to get wrong. Whether as a sewin or as a wig, this style is as versatile as it’s simple. It refuses to go out of style and we’ve made peace with that.
Faux Locs — the protective-style power move. This low maintenance, high impact style screams wise, grown and sexy. A combination that we all want. And it’s somehow better the longer you keep them.
Protective and easy is the whole mood this season. The girls want styles that guard their hair and survive the weather, and these five deliver.
Where in Abuja can you find the tank top of the summer?
The tank top is the quiet hero of an Abuja summer — the base of every outfit that looks thrown together and absolutely was not. The city’s small fashion brands have the assignment covered. Here’s where to shop:
- Joke’s Wears — @jokewears.ng
- Sky Shop — @skyshop.ng
- Leemah’s Clothing Store — @leemahs_clothing_store
- Elite Essentials — @eliteessentialsng
- Toronto Love World — @toronto_loveworld
Every one of these is a homegrown label built on Instagram, dressing the city one staple at a time. Slide into the DMs and support local.
That’s the Circular for this week. The couple’s back together, the water’s fine, the braids are protective, and the tank tops are local. See you in Vol. 4.
