HumAngle CEO Named 2026 Yale Peace Fellow

HumAngle’s CEO/Editor-in-Chief, Ahmad Salkida, has been announced as a 2026 Yale Peace Fellow. One of 14 leaders selected from thousands of applications, Ahmad will be undergoing extensive training across Yale University in the United States, the UAE, and virtual long-term sessions with his cohort and faculty.

The Yale Peace Fellowship is a yearly programme hosted by the International Leadership Centre (ILC) at the prestigious Yale University. According to its website, the fellowship “brings together 16 rising leaders each year who are working on the frontlines of conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and post-conflict reconciliation. Fellows come from a range of professional backgrounds—including civil society, diplomacy, politics, religion, and social enterprise—and are selected for their demonstrated impact and commitment to reach their full potential as peace leaders.”

Ahmad has worked in the peace and conflict field in Nigeria for decades, and is most known for his role in documenting the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria since it first broke out. It was he who dispatched the first newspaper article on Muhammad Yusuf, the founder of Boko Haram, on July 23 2006. He was often the first and sometimes only journalist to break major news regarding the war in its early days, sounding the alarm on various emerging threats. He was eventually exiled in March 2013 as a result of his journalism. A few years later, despite having tried to work closely with the government in addressing threats like the Chibok abduction, he was declared wanted by the Nigerian army and forced to return to the country with his family. Though it quickly became clear that there was no evidence of wrongdoing by him, leading the army to clear him of the allegations after he turned himself in, significant damage had already been done to his life and career, as he has documented.

In 2020, he founded the conflict reporting platform, HumAngle Media, and three years later, the peacebuilding advocacy arm, HumAngle Foundation. During the past five years, both organisations have worked to advance transitional justice in Nigeria, conducting in-depth investigations, reporting, and advocacy on conflict, humanitarian, and development issues. He has led HumAngle to global recognition, including the Michael Elliot Award, the Sigma awards, the West Africa Media Excellence Award (twice), the CJID awards, the Livingston awards, and many others.

Ahmad is joined by 13 other leaders from all over the world working to advance peace in their individual countries. Commenting on his selection, he said he was pleased to have been selected for the highly competitive opportunity and looked forward to taking some time away to interact with the world-class experts that Yale University is known for when it comes to global affairs and conflict studies.

“Being selected for this fellowship validates the work I am doing with HumAngle, and I look forward to gaining more insight to improve our processes after the fellowship,” he said. “Peace is achievable in our lifetime. And fellowships like this ensure that that belief is not only a feeling, but a destination that can be reached through small incremental steps.”