No fewer than 50 persons have been reportedly killed by suspected herdsmen who invaded Otukpu local government area in Benue state early March 2018.

It was gathered that the farmers / herders crisis in one of the communities was responsible for several killings in the local government .

A source in the community who identified himself as Udeme Okoro said one of the youth leaders of the community, Eze Donatus Nwadei was strongly opposed to the idea of the herdsmen destroying their farmlands and causing mayhem in the community .

He mobilized youths of the community who regrouped in their numbers to violently force the herdsmen out of the community in a bloody attack which left many dead and others injured,the source added

The community in Otukpu ,according to information made available, came under siege in early March when the herdsmen launched a violent reprisal attack on members of the community.

Eze Nwadei ,according to sources ,was the main target of the herdsmen attack in which buildings were destroyed as innocent indigenes were massacred by the ruthless herdsmen who fired Ak 47 rifles at innocent people whose houses were set ablaze in the middle of the night to send them running out.

It was said that Eze Nwadei whose wife had just given birth to the second child of the family and was returning home from her family house when she was caught in the crossfire .

There are strong indications that Eze Nwadei’s wife and children would either had been slaughtered by the herdsmen in the violent attack on her way home to meet her husband or would still be alive as corpses recovered after the attack did not show any evidence of them(wife and children) being killed in the attack.

The source however stated that Eze Nwadei’s whereabouts after the attack in Otukpu community was still unknown as there are no clear indications he was still in the community or alive as efforts to locate his whereabouts proved unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, the corpses of the slaughtered local indigenes of the community have since been deposited at the mortuary while relief materials are being distributed by the state emergency management agency to survivors.

The number of casualties, according to sources, is expected to rise in the coming weeks .