Violence attributed to militant Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria has reached a record high this year.  The governor of the central state of Benue said this week that 492 people have been killed in his state alone so far this year.  Governor Samuel Ortom was speaking May 22 at the mass burial of 19 Catholics, including two priests,

killed during early morning Mass at St. Ignatius Catholic Church, by herdsmen a month ago.  Such attacks have become recurrent in Benue in recent months. Since the introduction in Nov. 2017 of a controversial law banning herders from open grazing in the state, attacks have been carried out on an almost daily basis. At least 18 of Benue’s 23 local government areas have been attacked, said Ortom. READ MORE