The herdsmen and local farmers are battling for access to water and pasture in Benue State.

Gunmen believed to be nomadic Fulani herdsmen have been on the rampage against for the past two weeks with coordinated attacks on local farmers in at least 10 local government areas in the centre of Benue State, killing over 81 people, Vanguard reported.

State government spokesman, Tahav Agerzua said the long-running conflict is over grazing rights. “The magnitude of killings is enormous. Scores of people were killed in the past two weeks by Fulani herdsmen in at least 10 local government areas of the state,” Vanguard quoted him as saying.

Benue State Police Spokesman, Moses Yamu confirmed the killings but said the affected communities had returned to normal. “It’s not a recent development. The clashes happened last month and we are on top of the situation,” he is quoted as saying. Nigeria’s Channels television put the number of dead at 81 in the past two weeks after attacks on farming villages in the Logo and Ukum areas of Benue State.

The traditional ruler of Logo, Chief Jimmy Meeme, who reportedly spoke to Channels Television on the invasion of rural communities, said 70 people were killed in six out of the 10 council wards in his domain. In reaction to the killings, the Benue State Coordinator of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Garus Gololo, promised to track down those responsible for the attacks in Logo and Ukum.

The Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, Nigeria Tribune reported, lamented the inability of the security agencies to arrest the perpetrators of the coordinated attacks. The recent attacks come to add to the nightmare of the local population. In February 2016, hundreds of people were said to have been killed and about 1,000 homes destroyed in the Agatu area of Benue in a wave of attacks blamed on Fulani.