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Two years after her death, activists gathered around a young tree planted in memory of Iniubong Umoren. Each branch bore ribbons inscribed with the names of women killed since her murder: more than 300, according to the DOHS Femicide Dashboard.
In Lagos, another ribbon is tied. In Montreal, another row is added to a spreadsheet. The archive grows, but so does the violence.
Memory as Epistemological Practice
“Remembering is political work,” observes Ololade Ajayi. Feminist epistemologist Sandra Harding theorizes this practice as “strong objectivity,” the production of knowledge from marginalized standpoints that reveals what official methodologies systematically obscure.
These counter-archives fundamentally challenge state narratives that frame femicide as rare or random. Instead, they document recurring patterns: intimate partner violence dismissed by law enforcement, women whose repeated threats are ignored until they are killed, deaths misclassified as accidents or suicides, and killings reduced to “domestic disputes” in media reporting.
Recent data substantiates claims of crisis-level violence. Documentation reveals a 240% increase in femicide cases in January 2025 compared to the previous year. Cases that briefly generated public attention before vanishing from discourse include the murder of a pregnant woman in Edo State, the Lagos hammer killing, and the murder of a young woman by her partner in Lagos.
These cases are not statistical outliers. They are structural symptoms.
Four Domains of Feminist Intervention
During the 2025 “16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence” campaign, Nigerian and Canadian feminist organizations articulated coordinated demands across four institutional domains.
Legal Recognition and Codification
Advocates call for the formal recognition of femicide as a distinct criminal category, mandatory national data collection with disaggregated demographic variables, the establishment of specialized gender-based violence courts, and strengthened penalties that reflect the gender-motivated nature of these killings.
Institutional Transformation
Proposed reforms include expanded forensic capacity (particularly DNA laboratories in Nigeria), revision of Section 84 to permit digital evidence admissibility, and accountability mechanisms for law enforcement officers who dismiss or inadequately investigate reports of violence.
Survivor-Centered Service Provision
Demands include funding for multilingual shelter networks, comprehensive legal aid addressing immigration and custody concerns, and expedited, enforceable emergency protection orders.
Cultural and Ideological Transformation
Long-term prevention requires media reform to eliminate victim-blaming narratives, public education on patterns of coercive control, sustained engagement with men and boys through prevention programming, and the meaningful inclusion of survivor voices in policy development.
As feminist legal scholar Catharine MacKinnon argues, ending femicide requires dismantling not only individual perpetrators but the social, legal, and ideological structures that enable and normalize gender-based violence.
The Archive Remains Unfinished
As this series concludes, the violence continues. The DOHS Dashboard has recorded twelve additional femicides this month. Montreal police are investigating another intimate partner homicide, the victim’s name withheld pending notification. Families navigate institutional systems that interrogate victims (“What did she do to provoke him?”) before interrogating perpetrators (“Why did he kill her?”). Activists persist in documenting, educating, organizing, and refusing erasure.
“We tell these stories not to exploit pain but to build solidarity,” explains Oluwafunmbi Ogunsola of Naija Feminists Media. “When enough people bear witness, impunity becomes impossible to sustain.”
Women killed through femicide cannot narrate their own experiences. Their families, friends, journalists, activists, and researchers become what poet Claudia Rankine theorizes as “citizen witnesses.” Through collective testimony, private grief transforms into political demand.
Speaking Their Names
They are Iniubong Umoren, Osinachi Nwachukwu, Uwaila Omozuwa, Barakat Bello, Victoria Okoh, the pregnant woman murdered in Edo State, the woman killed with a hammer in Lagos, the 25-year-old woman murdered by her partner in Lagos. They are women whose names briefly occupied public discourse and women whose deaths received no coverage whatsoever.
They will not be silenced twice.
Not while we continue speaking their names.
