President Bola Tinubu’s call on herders to end open grazing, surrender illegal weapons, and transition fully to ranching has triggered criticisms from major opposition parties in the country.
In an exclusive interview with Sunday PUNCH, spokespersons for the Labour Party, African Democratic Congress, and Peoples Democratic Party accused the Tinubu administration of pushing “rhetoric,” lacking strategy, and misdiagnosing Nigeria’s security crisis.
The President had, on Wednesday, unveiled a new national livestock plan aimed at curbing the farmer–herder conflict and reducing armed violence in rural communities.
The policy, which forms part of the government’s broader security reforms and the work of the new Ministry of Livestock, also urges herder associations to embrace ranching and cooperate with security agencies.
Tinubu’s directive came amid renewed abductions of students in Niger and Kebbi schools and persistent farmer–herder clashes across the North Central region, where hundreds have been killed in recent months.
But opposition parties say the directive shows that the President misunderstands the nature of Nigeria’s insecurity.
“It is an organised criminal invasion,” said the spokesperson for the LP, Obiora Ifoh.
Ifoh said the insecurity ravaging the country was being perpetrated by terrorists.
“It is a case of terrorists invading the serenity of the nation. It’s not about the herders. Yes, I agree some terrorists disguise as herders, thereby making it difficult for you to isolate or differentiate who is genuinely a herder and who is a terrorist. But it’s the work that government must do.”
Ifoh argued that many of the recent attacks, including school invasions and church assaults, were carried out by armed groups who had nothing to do with cattle rearing.
“Did the people who came to invade the schools in the North come with any herd? No. What about the ones who attacked the church in Kwara? They are not herders.
“The terrorists doing these things are doing it because they want to make more money to buy more arms to control the invasion. So, it is up to the Federal Government to up the ante and do something good about it. But if they are willing, they can do something,” he stated.
Similarly, the African Democratic Congress described the President’s directive as empty talk.
ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, questioned the practicality of the policy.
He said, “Have you seen any herder carrying weapons? The ones they claim move around with firearms—are they carrying them about in the city? Some of these announcements are declarative, just for newspaper headlines.
“They don’t even have an idea how they want to implement it. For instance, they just declared a state of emergency on security. What does that mean in real terms? What should we expect to see?”
The ADC imagemaker argued that the government’s recent security declarations, including a state of emergency, have not translated into visible action.
“When you woke up this morning, is your life different than it was yesterday? It’s just another rhetoric to grab newspaper headlines, that’s all.”
Abdullahi also criticised the Tinubu administration’s plan to hire 30,000 new police officers, saying there is not enough infrastructure or ammunition to train them.
He said, “You are announcing that you want to hire 30,000 more policemen. Where will you put them and the existing policemen? Go and check their barracks. Where will they get the ammunition to even train them? Meanwhile, they train them with sticks.
“Even the existing policemen, you need to see how they count bullets to give them. So, a lot of very terrible things are going on. When they make this kind of statement, I doubt if the President is even aware of the depth of the decay. You are building an army when the war has already started.”
The Peoples Democratic Party took a tougher stance, accusing Tinubu of being out of touch with realities on the ground.
PDP Deputy National Youth Leader, Tim Osadolor, said the President’s directive lacked depth.
“The President is just coming down to talk without even knowing what is happening around him. I am sure somebody told him that if he says something like that, it will resonate with the Nigerian people.
“Tinubu doesn’t even know what is happening. That is the truth. The problem is not armed herders,” he lamented.
Osadolor insisted that open grazing remains a major driver of tension and urged herders to acquire land or return to their ancestral communities.
“Animal husbandry is a private business, and until it is treated as such, we will continue to have problems. Like farmers and other businesses, let these herdsmen also purchase land for grazing or go back to their ancestral communities to rear them. May God help anybody who comes to my ancestral land in the name of pacifying herders,” he warned.
The PDP chieftain also mocked the practicality of the policy.
“So how does Tinubu plan to go about his policy? Is he going to queue up all the herdsmen in this country and start asking them one after the other if they own arms?” he queried.
Referencing a recent viral video of a Customs officer claiming to have distributed seized rice to bandits, Osadolor argued that the government itself appeared seemingly aware of the whereabouts of criminal groups.
“These are issues that should be taken seriously in a sane society. They should have invited that Customs officer to come and show us the location of the bandits they gave the bags of rice. It means his government knows where they are.
“If a senior government official in the Customs can be saying they know where they are and even give them a treat with illegal rice they impounded, it means there is a problem. So as 2027 approaches, Nigerians should brace up for more rhetoric and grand speeches. We should be able to demand accountability and ask for change,” he argued.
The criticisms came in the wake of renewed calls by Senator Francis Fadahunsi (APC, Osun East) for the National Assembly to legalise controlled civilian gun ownership to counter rising insecurity.
Fadahunsi told his colleagues during plenary that Nigeria is “at war” and must consider measures adopted in “about 120 countries” that allow citizens to carry arms.
“If the elite and a few of us who are okay are carrying guns, it will be war against these criminals, and they will run away because they are not many,” he said.
He also demanded death penalties for kidnappers and negotiators while questioning the competence of the current defence leadership.
“The Commander-in-Chief needs to look at the military architecture around him and do the needful.”
As debate deepens, the Tinubu administration insists that ranching, tighter border controls, and the disarmament of armed herders remain the only sustainable pathway to ending the farmer–herder crisis and restoring rural security.
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