The toll of Fulani violence has reached an all time high this year as nearly 500 have been killed by militants in the Nigerian state of Benue alone, the governor has said.
Gov. Samuel Ortom said during a mass burial of 19 victims of Fulani violence that 492 people have been killed in his state this year.
The 19 victims were killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen about a month ago while they were attending mass at the St. Ignatius Catholic Church.
According to World Watch Monitor, the mass burial on May 22 was also attended by Nigerian Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, who vowed to punish those who were responsible for the killings.
The militant attacks have reportedly stepped up in Benue state following the introduction of a law that prohibited open grazing in the state.
Ortom noted that 18 of Benue state's 23 Local Government Areas have suffered from such attacks since the introduction of the measure.
The governor went on to note that the state had just conducted another mass burial recently. In January, a mass burial was reportedly held for 73 victims of the Fulani attack in Guma and Logo on New Year.
"The reverend Fathers are not farmers," Ortom said, as reported by World Watch Monitor. "The church...has no grass. It is therefore curious why parishioners...who were worshipping God would be killed by herdsmen in the church. By so doing, the armed herdsmen have moved the narrative of the current crisis from search of grass to other obvious motives," he continued.
The governor said that the ongoing attacks by the herdsmen had displaced more than 180,000 people, including 80,000 school age children who were no longer receiving education. Additionally, over 500,000 are now living with their relatives or in unfinished buildings, Ortom said.
More than 1,600 people have been killed in over 50 attacks committed by militant herdsmen in Benue State since 2013, World Watch Monitor reports.
Attacks have also been carried out in Christian-majority states and areas such as Taraba, Plateau, Nasarawa and the southern part of Kaduna state.
During the mass burial last Tuesday, Osinbajo assured Nigerians that the federal government is working to ensure that the killings would cease in the state and other parts of the country.
On the same day of the mass burial, Catholics organized a nationwide prayer and protest to urge President Muhammadu Buhari to increase the efforts to put an end to the incessant attacks against Christians.
The peaceful protests reportedly took place in the states of Edo, Oyo, Benue, Lagos, Kaduna, Adamawa, Kwara and other parts of Nigeria.
Apart from Catholics, members of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Niger State also reportedly joined the protests.
