More than 20 people were murdered and 30 others critically injured in late Monday attack by herdsmen in Nigerian north central Benue state, the governor said on Tuesday.

“We have reports that over 20 people have been killed in Goma and Logo local government areas,” Benue Governor Samuel Ortom told reporters on Tuesday in the state capital Makurdi.

No fewer than 30 others were injured and taken to various hospitals, the governor added.

He said nine of the victims were livestock guards employed to implement the state's anti-open grazing law, which had pitted the government against herdsmen in the agrarian state known for herdsmen-farmers clashes.

Ortom blamed the violence on herdsmen, who he insisted were taking the “anti-open grazing law personal even when we have said that no ethnic group was being targeted”.