Eleven years after the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls shocked the world, global leaders and advocates, including United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed and Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II, will gather in London today to mark the anniversary with a photo exhibition and high-level panel discussion.
The event, themed “A Decade On: Chibok Photo Exhibition and Commemoration”, will be held at SOAS, University of London, and is spearheaded by Dr. Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode, Chief Operating Officer of the Murtala Muhammed Foundation (MMF), whose relentless advocacy has kept the Chibok tragedy in global consciousness.
Muhammed-Oyebode will lead an international panel discussion titled “The Stolen Daughters of Chibok: Resilience, Justice, and Global Lessons”, focusing on the continued impact of the abductions on education, gender rights, and conflict recovery.
“This isn’t just history—this is a continuing horror,” she said in a statement. “We gather not only to honour the stolen daughters of Chibok but to hold the world accountable for allowing impunity to thrive while generations of girls are silenced by violence.”
The commemoration will feature voices from across the humanitarian, academic, and diplomatic spheres, including Bulama Bukarti, Osai Ojigho, Dr. Elizabeth Pearson, and a keynote address from Emir Sanusi II, who also serves as the Honorary Patron of the accompanying photo exhibition.
The powerful exhibition will offer a raw visual narrative of the tragedy’s aftermath—capturing the anguish of Chibok mothers, the silence of empty classrooms, and the shattered futures of young girls still unaccounted for.
“The event is more than a remembrance,” MMF said in its statement. “It is a clarion call—to reignite global outrage, to pursue justice without compromise, and to restore dignity and opportunity to girls and women scarred by war.”
Since the night of April 14, 2014, when Boko Haram insurgents stormed Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, and abducted over 270 students, global advocacy has waxed and waned.
Yet many of the girls remain missing, and insecurity continues to plague communities across Nigeria.
Muhammed-Oyebode, who has remained one of the loudest voices on the Chibok tragedy, issued a stark reminder: “We must never allow the world to forget. Our silence is complicity. Our inaction is betrayal.”
