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With the unabated nefarious activities of Fulani herdsmen that have made going to farms in Delta State a nightmare for farmers, the worry of most observers and farmers alike has been the lack of commitment on the path of the State Government to intervene, dislodge the herdsmen and make farms save havens for farmers to farm again.

Across the length and breadth of Delta State, it is a common phenomenon to hear farmers complain of the unsavoury experience they have had to undergo in the hands of a mindless bunch of herdsmen who take their cattle to graze on hard worked farms, where cattle eat up tender and already grown crops as well as farm produce. This is besides the point that these herdsmen unleash terror on farm owners when they try to protest against the destruction of their farms, resulting sometimes in the killing of farmers, rape of women farmers and maiming. Of course, complaints are made to security agencies, especially the police and officials of Delta State Government.

Yet what befuddles is the inept and cold attitude of the Delta State Government, since the days of Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa as governor to the present tenure of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to the matter, especially their apparent lack of commitment to deal with the situation and make the farms free and safe once again for farmers. Today, the common refrain in farming communities is that farms are no longer safe for farmers to go into and do their farming work. That farmers are helpless and frustrated is to say the least. In May 2025, The Guardian newspaper, the flagship of Nigerian Press reported that “The Ovie of Idjerhe Kingdom, His Royal Majesty, Monday Whiskey, Udurhie 1^st, raised alarm over the increasing spate of kidnappings and killings of local farmers in his domain by suspected Fulani herdsmen. In a statement issued through the Crown Otota (Iyase) of the kingdom, Uzzi Obriki, and made available to journalists in Asaba, the monarch strongly condemned what he described as ‘unprovoked attacks and senseless killings’ of innocent farmers in the area.

According to the report, “HRM Whiskey lamented that the violent attacks have forced many farmers to abandon their farmlands, threatening food security and livelihoods in the community. The situation has caused fear and distrust among the people, and we believe that individual action is required to safeguard the lives and livelihoods of the farmers and residents.” This is the obviously the concern of a monarch, who is daily inundated by complaints and reports of attacks on his subjects who cannot go to work for their livelihoods in the farms. Banneronlinenews therefore asks: Is the state government not aware of this and many other such reports and complaints from other communities in the state?

What’s more is the point that the herdsmen always have a free to do as they like openly and without restraint. They have become laws unto themselves so much so that the Chief Security Officer of the State, the Governor and the law enforcement agency, the police Command appear hamstrung to touch these untouchables. This is despite the fact that there’s a law in Delta State prohibiting open grazing in the state. It is the “Delta State Livestock Breeding, Rearing and Marketing Regulation Law, 2021.”

This law contains specifics that includes among others, the establishment for the state, a Livestock management Committee to be headed as Chairman by the Commissioner of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Section 12 (1) of the law states as follows that “No Owner shall permit livestock to be at large.” Section 12 (2) states: “When Livestock is at large, the Owner of the Livestock is deemed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, to have permitted the Livestock to be at large

Section 18 (1) states categorically: “Movement of Livestock on foot from one destination to another in the state is hereby prohibited. Such movement shall only be by vehicle between the hours of 6:00 am and 7:00 pm.”

18 (2) “Any person(s) found moving livestock on foot within or across any part of the State commits an offence and is liable for: (a) a first offender, a fine of N300,000 or six months imprisonment or both; (b) for a subsequent offender, a fine of N500,000 or one year imprisonment or both.”

Section 19 states that: “Where any Livestock is found at large, Members of the Special Task Force in the local government area shall impound or cause the Livestock to be impounded and the owner shall be liable to a fine of N100,000 per Livestock, payable to the State through the Delta State Internal Revenue Service.”

With the above stated, it’s clear that the State Government has the powers to help to organize and control the menace of herdsmen and save farmers and farms from further assault by herders who roam the herds of cattle on foot. But why is the Sheriff Oborevwori administration looking the other way while Delta farmers and their farms are uncompromisingly raided and assaulted, sometimes leading to deaths of farmers, rape and destruction of farm crops and produce?  The Delta State Livestock Breeding and Marketing Regulation Law, 2021, otherwise called the Anti-Open grazing law was established and passed into law when Governor Sheriff Oborevwori was the Speaker of the House of Assembly. That is why at banneronlinenews.com, we are posing the question: Why is it that as Governor he is not enforcing the law? Why is he allowing herdsmen to run roughshod on citizens, thus putting them in a hopeless and helpless situation?

We are alarmed that the administration of Governor Oborevwori is displaying an attitude of lack of concern to the plight of farmers in the State over complaints of insecurity occasioned by herdsmen who defiantly flout the law by moving their cattle on foot from place to place. Because of the dangerous weapons they wield farmers are scared to go to the farms in pursuit of their daily interest of farming. More than two years after being in the Governor’s saddle, it amazes that Governor Oborevwori did not see the need to help these farmers that have continued to suffer four years after the anti-open grazing law was made. Is the Governor saying that the problem of insecurity among farming communities is not covered by his MORE Agenda?

We note, of course, that when it became necessary to ensure that his interest to secure ticket for his second term is concerned, Governor Oborevwori immediately and with lightening speed took measures, dumped the party through which he came to political limelight and fused himself into the ruling national party, the All Progressives Congress, APC. Unfortunately and comparatively, it does not matter to him that the interests of Delta’s farming communities under siege of insecurity created by herdsmen should be secured two years after becoming governor. Will the Governor and members of his executive council say that they do not see Fulani cattle herders move their cattle on foot across the roads in Delta State, when the law that he headed to promulgate as Speaker largely prohibits this? By this apparent show of lack of concern the Governor has displayed arrant insensitivity to the interest of a large and crucial segment of Delta communities currently reeling under the yoke of herders that destroy their sources of livelihood.

Incidentally, when journalists, who are the bridge between the people and the government have no opportunity to confront the Governor because he has failed to see the media as important partners in progress by shutting his door against them, he thus leaves no space for journalists to interact with him and call his attention to problems that indeed the affect the citizens.

On the foregoing score, Governor Oborevwori and his administration failed woefully in his two years in the saddle.