By 247ureports.com
Dogo Nanzing, Chairman of the civic advocacy group One Plateau One Voice, has questioned the timing and motives behind recent calls for a state of emergency in Plateau State, the disbandment of the state’s Operation Rainbow security outfit, and the removal of the state’s Department of State Services (DSS) Director.
The Statement
In a statement, Nanzing argued that such demands are being pushed by what he described as Fulani bandits and their sympathizers, and questioned why these calls are only emerging now, after what he says has been 25 years of attacks on Plateau communities. “For 25 years, they have been killing our people and taking over our villages; Plateau have lost thousands of her citizens but all through that time the Fulani bandits and their sympathizers never asked that a state of emergency be imposed on Plateau until now,” he said.
Nanzing also defended Operation Rainbow and the DSS directly, saying neither institution’s neutrality was questioned by these same voices during years of killings: “For years, after the creation of Operation Rainbow, they never, for once as much as, acknowledged the existence of the security outfit nor respect its mandate,” and that “DSS has been in Plateau for as long as the state exists; from the beginning of the killings to this day, they never doubted the agency’s credibility and neutrality.”
He posed four direct questions about the motives behind the renewed demands — a state of emergency in Plateau, disbandment of Operation Rainbow, removal of the DSS Director, and what he called calls for “justice for their dead who by the way died while attacking our people in their homes.” He concluded that the pattern signals Plateau “can never be defeated and is on its way to recovery,” and separately demanded the return of lands he alleges were seized by “Fulani marauders” to their original owners.
Background: A Documented History of Competing Claims
Nanzing’s framing reflects a long-running and genuinely contested dispute over Operation Rainbow’s conduct. Fulani advocacy groups in Plateau have, in fact, previously and publicly called for the outfit’s disbandment: the Coalition of Fulani Registered Organizations, Plateau State Chapter, held a news conference describing Operation Rainbow as a “notorious and anti-Muslim squad” and demanded its disbandment along with the prosecution of its operatives over alleged killing, maiming and displacement of Fulani communities, following the 2025 Bokkos crisis. A separate group identifying as the Fulani Coalition reportedly went further, linking disbandment demands to Governor Caleb Mutfwang’s 2025 initiative to upgrade the outfit.
On the other side, Operation Rainbow has drawn scrutiny beyond Fulani advocacy groups as well: EU asylum agency documentation cites media reports from January 2024 in which Mangu LGA residents accused Operation Rainbow of extrajudicial killings and arson. The Nigerian Bar Association’s Plateau branches, while broadly commending the state government’s revamping of the outfit and its 2,000-strong Neighbourhood Watch training program, have simultaneously called for licensing reform and a clearer legal operating framework for its personnel — suggesting the outfit’s legitimacy remains a live, multi-sided debate rather than one confined to any single ethnic or religious constituency.
A State Under Renewed Pressure
Nanzing’s statement comes amid a fresh wave of violence in Plateau that has prompted the Nigerian Army to deploy 178 additional troops to Mangu LGA in late September, and separate SaharaReporters findings alleging a DSS officer was dismissed after flagging that critical security intelligence reports were not reaching Governor Mutfwang’s office. As of this report, 247ureports.com could not independently confirm the specific, most recent calls for a state of emergency or the DSS Director’s removal that Nanzing’s statement responds to, nor identify which individuals or groups are currently making those demands.
