Plateau in Crisis: Drone Allegations, Operation Rainbow And The Struggle For Peace
By Dr. Salim Musa Umar, FCIDA
The renewed violence in *Mangu, Bokkos and Barkin Ladi,* makes the need to reject inherited historical grievances more urgent than ever.
Killings, reprisals and counter-reprisals have brought grief, fear and mutual suspicion. Plateau crisis cannot be resolved by force alone. It needs security intervention, impartial investigations, accountability and reconciliation.
Two issues are especially dangerous: *allegations that spy drones were used to monitor Fulani settlements to gather intelligence for attacks and concerns about the conduct and perceived neutrality of some Operation Rainbow operatives.*
These must be confronted honestly, without ethnic prejudice, political manipulation or selective justice. Government’s first duty is to protect every innocent life, regardless of ethnicity or religion.
*Spy drones*
Reports that spy drones were used to monitor Fulani settlements, to identify locations, observe movements and gather intelligence that could facilitate attacks—warrant urgent independent investigation. If verified, using surveillance technology to target civilian settlements would be a deeply disturbing escalation.
Technology meant for agriculture, development, emergency response and lawful security, must never become a tool for targeting people because of ethnicity.
Authorities must establish whether such surveillance occurred, who was responsible, what information was gathered and whether it aided criminal activity.
Anyone found to have deployed technology to facilitate unlawful attacks must face the law. But allegations must not be treated as established facts before independent verification. Rumours can inflame tensions. Investigations must be evidence-based, transparent and free from ethnic or political interference.
*Fulani lives matter. Berom lives matter. Mwaghavul lives matter. Every community on Plateau matters equally.* No settlement should be a legitimate target because of its inhabitants’ ethnicity. Every community has a right to security, dignity and legal protection.
*Operation Rainbow*
Concerns about the conduct and perceived neutrality of some Operation Rainbow operatives must also be taken seriously. Operation Rainbow was established to protect lives and property, but its effectiveness depends on public confidence in its impartiality. If residents believe security interventions are uneven, or that one community’s suffering receives less attention, that perception can be as damaging as proven misconduct. It can discourage reporting threats and deepen the belief that some lives matter more than others.
Operation Rainbow must demonstrate that it is not an instrument of ethnic mobilisation or a partisan actor in communal disputes. It must protect all law-abiding residents, investigate threats impartially and respond without fear or favour. Allegations that individual operatives participated in unlawful killings, intimidation, selective enforcement or facilitation of attacks especially on the Fulanis, must be independently investigated. Where wrongdoing is established, disciplinary and criminal proceedings must follow.
The Plateau State Government should consider an independent review of complaints about Operation Rainbow in affected communities. It should examine operational records, residents’ complaints, video evidence, handling of distress calls and treatment of civilians. Fulani representatives, alongside Berom, Mwaghavul and other affected communities, should have safe opportunities to present evidence.
Operation Rainbow cannot protect one community against another. Its legitimacy must rest on protecting every law-abiding resident. A Fulani herder deserves the same protection as a Berom farmer or Mwaghavul villager.
Those responsible for murder, destruction, cattle rustling and other crimes must be held accountable.
*DANGEROUS RHETORIC MUST NOT BE IGNORED*
Another serious dimension of the security crisis is the growing normalisation of rhetoric that appears to encourage violence, destruction of property or the forced displacement of people.
A screenshot circulating on social media, contains comments attributed to Chris Nandi and Binkam Solomon. One of the comments appears to advocate targeting cattle as a means of compelling their owners to either “live in peace or leave the state,” while another response appears to suggest that some matters are better left unsaid on social media.
If the material is authentic, correctly attributed and presented in its proper context, it deserves the attention of the relevant security authorities.
This is not a call for retaliation, collective punishment or ethnic profiling. It is a call for a professional investigation.
The authorities should verify the accounts and establish the full context which amounts to unlawful incitement and threats to public peace.
*THE BURNING OF PASTORALIST SETTLEMENTS MUST ALSO BE CONDEMNED*
Equally disturbing are reports of pastoralist hamlets and settlements being set ablaze the crisis. The destruction of homes, shelters, livestock and livelihoods is not merely an act of property damage; it can force vulnerable families to flee and deepen the cycle of displacement, fear and retaliation. Where such burnings have occurred, authorities must establish who was responsible, the circumstances surrounding each incident and whether the attacks were deliberate or coordinated. No community should be collectively punished for the actions of individuals and no person should lose their home or livelihood simply because of their ethnic or occupational identity.
_Drone allegations and concerns about security operatives must receive the same serious attention_ .
Security agencies must move beyond reactive deployments to intelligence gathering, early warning, rapid response and protection of vulnerable communities. No community should conclude it must organise its own retaliation because authorities cannot or will not protect it. The rule of law must apply equally to all.
Traditional rulers, religious leaders, elders, women, youths, civil society and government must pursue broad reconciliation that reaches villages, markets and places of worship. Leaders must condemn attacks regardless of perpetrators’ or victims’ identities. Political and public commentators must avoid statements that stigmatise whole communities.
*Conclusion*
Plateau needs *a renewed social contract: its diverse communities share one home and one future. No community can prosper while its neighbours live in fear.*
Government must strengthen preventive intelligence, protect vulnerable settlements, respond rapidly to threats and prosecute perpetrators without discrimination.
The task is not to decide which community deserves more protection. It is to ensure no community is denied protection. *If drone allegations are substantiated, those responsible must face the law. If misconduct or bias by Operation Rainbow operatives is established, it must be addressed.*
There must be no protected perpetrators, no abandoned victims and no ethnic exceptions to the rule of law.
Plateau stands at a crossroads: continuing suspicion, revenge and displacement or justice, mutual respect and reconciliation.
*The choice must be shown in action. The time to stop the killings, investigate the abuse of surveillance technology, address concerns about security neutrality and rebuild trust is now* .
Dr. Salim Musa Umar*, FCIDA, Plateau State Secretary, Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) and Chairman Farmers and Herders Initiative for Peace and Development fhipd.