“This kind of portrayal invites global stigma on innocent Fulani communities.”

By Aisha Bello, Entertainment Editor
Golden Page Nollywood News | November 24, 2025

In the storm of hashtags, dueling Threads posts, and late-night live videos exploding since The Herd hit Netflix three days ago, one voice slices through the chaos with the sharpness of a herder’s whip: Bashir Ahmad, former presidential aide and now full-time digital provocateur.

His viral post currently hovering at over 3 million views doesn’t challenge the film’s gritty depiction of northern banditry. What he denounces is far heavier: “the dangerous consequences of profiling an entire ethnic group.”

@BashirAhmaad
“This kind of portrayal invites global stigma on innocent Fulani communities.”

And in a country where the wounds of fresh kidnappings like the recent abductions at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Niger State still burn, the fear of ethnic collateral damage is not entirely misplaced.

But at Golden Page, we’re asking a question almost no one else is brave enough to ask:

What if The Herd is not the villain

but Nollywood’s long avoided mirror?

For years, Nollywood has survived thrived, even on a buffet of lazy ethnic caricatures.
Igbo men as ritual fueled traders. Yoruba elders as rum swirling herbalists. Southern pastors as fraudulent miracle peddlers. We’ve seen entire regions reduced to punchlines. We’ve watched “yahoo boys” become a default Eastern storyline.We’ve seen Western elites painted as scheming corporate predators. And through it all, the nation shrugged. No petitions. No protests. No fiery X Spaces.

Christians, especially, have watched Nollywood drag their clergyn from oil-seed miracle pastors to organ-trafficking prophets without ever trending a #StopProfilingChristians hashtag.

So why now?
Why this film?
Why this community?

Is it the Netflix effect, turning local stereotypes into global exports? Or has The Herd simply exposed what Nollywood has always avoided: when the ethnic spotlight swings North, the fragile balance shatters? Directed by Daniel Etim-Effiong and starring powerhouses Femi Dami Adeniyi and Kunle Remi, the film runs a tight 1 hour, 45 minutes a merging of thriller tension and social commentary sewn directly into the fabric of Nigeria’s kidnapping crisis.

Early whispers place its box-office projections at ₦180M+ pre-streaming, but the real jackpot is the national conversation it’s ignited.

Even critics admit the trailer flirted dangerously with stereotype. Ahmad calls it “one-note villainy.” But the real question isn’t whether Nollywood should stop telling hard stories it’s whether it should stop telling them alone.

Because imagine this:
What if The Herd had been co-created with northern filmmakers Ali Nuhu, writers from the Nigerian Film Corporation, or Arewa creatives who know the texture of the terrain?

What if the villains weren’t reduced to a single tribe, but expanded to include foreign gun-runners, crooked officials, Southern collaborators, or international traffickers, as the film hints in its organ-harvesting subplot?

That is the Nollywood that Nigerians deserve:
Not censored.
Co-created.
Balanced.
Brave.

As one defender quipped on X:

@Lord_Of_Warri
“If you want to be portrayed as a doctor, read medicine—not banditry.”

Harsh? Yes.
But it cuts to the core:
Art reflects life but art can also rewrite what life becomes.

Meanwhile, the backlash is ironically powering the film’s success. The Herd is now trending #1 on Netflix in six countries. Muslim groups are mobilizing for boycotts. Youth activists are framing it as “a national problem, not a tribal one.” And Nollywood, for once, is being forced into a soul-searching moment it can no longer outrun. So here’s the Golden Page verdict:

Don’t smash the mirror.

Polish it.
Expand it.
Let every tribe see themselves in full color not only as villains, not only as saints. Because the future of Nollywood isn’t in avoiding tough stories it’s in telling them fairly. Now, Golden Page readers, it’s your turn: Is The Herd harmful hype or hard truth? Stream it on Netflix. Then come back and tell us: Are you with the herd… or against it?