Rainbow security outfit, were being trained by an Israeli Security Expert, suspected to be from the Mossad, the Israeli Intelligence Security Organisation and likely from the most dreaded and feared Special Operation Division also known as the Metsada. This arm of Mossad specialises in carrying out assassination, sabotage, kidnapping and psychological warfare.
Its Lohamah Psichlogit Department (LAP) is responsible for psychological warfare, propaganda and deception operations.
I am worried about the security implications of these trainings and those behind such dangerous adventure on the Plateau. The Governor of Plateau State, Da Jonah Jang, on his resumption of office in 2007, the first country he paid attention to was Israel where he was received by the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset. Why Jang would be hosted by the Knesset still remains unknown to most people.
However, by 2011 when Jang established his official and personal security outfit called Operation Rainbow. Some people call it killer squad. Following the importation of Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) from Israeli, the picture began to get clearer.
Recruitment of its personnel which was clearly based on ethnic and religious considerations and this further alarmed the already frightened and suspicious Plateau Muslim community whose members had applied, supplied their names but were denied recruitment. The Hausa and the Fulani were equally rejected. This led to the series of the outcries against the state government and the security organ. This is what is believed to have caused the organization to be handed over to the police command as its supervisory body as it was refused an independent operational licence by the federal government, which Jang was very bitter about.
Those who felt that was the end of Operation Rainbow as a state government hit squad or killer organization were recently taken aback with its resurrection under Israeli trainers. How on earth does a foreign security organization gain access to a state within the Nigerian nation to militarily train the indigenes of that state?
It is most horrific and terrifying to see people (civilians) being trained on ethnic and religious grounds in a state like Plateau where just last week, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report that said-“The Nigerian Government has largely ignored years of murder in Plateau and Kaduna States”. The report gave details of “horrific sectarian violence in these two states, which has left more than 3000 people dead since 2010”.
The Coordinator of the Operation Rainbow in the State AVM Bala Danbaba, defended the training agenda by declaring on Thursday, December 12, 2013 at Shere Hills Jos, venue of the training of the third batch of 500 youths-“We are not training anyone to attack anyone, we are training people to protect communities.” He added that Jang was only supporting anti-terrorism efforts by training the operatives, and not handpicking people to attack perceived enemies as recently alleged, Bala said.
He told journalists that already 4000 people had been trained earlier and redeployed to the 325 wards of Plateau State’s 17 LGAs and that the series of training would continue. The government disclosed that the training was being conducted by the Israeli International Security Academy (ISA). Speaking, at the training ground, the founder of the ISA, Mr Mirza David said the concept of the training was to empower communities to ward off terrorism, instead of living in constant fear of it.
The question is- with the obviously flawed recruitment pattern of the outfit, who would protect the Hausa and Fulani communities which do not have their youths in its employment and are therefore very vulnerable to terrorist attacks from any of their neighbouring communities? The HWR has identified the acts of terrorism not to be the exclusive preserve of any one tribe or faith as it said –“The sectarian clashes in Jos in 2010, for example, sparked the massacre of Muslims, including rural Fulani, counter- massacres of Christians, mostly from the Berom ethnic group. The violence that year left more than 1000 people dead.”
AVM Bala should make the statistics of the personnel of Operation Rainbow and the youths being trained by it available to the public to show that there is no cause for fear that the security outfit is not out to attack anybody or that it has no ulterior motive.
Instead of doing that, Gov. Jang has been emphasising the need for a peace and reconciliation commission, or calling for the adoption of the Report of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Jos Crisis, which was chaired by the late elder statesman, Chief Solomon Lar which recommended the establishment of such a commission. But Jang is still busy training people who must now or in the future use their ‘skills’ not as law abiding citizens but as outlaws. Little wonder, therefore, that the crises in Plateau State have refused to go away for 12 years now since 2001 when Jos burst into flames. The federal government should hold itself and Gov. Jang responsible, squarely, for any outbreak of crisis anywhere in Plateau State, following the resurgence of the unnecessary, provocative and inciting training of potential killers or assassins on the Plateau under the Operation Rainbow.
May be as a counter, the Plateau State and the federal governments may authorise the Hausa and the Fulani or Muslims to bring in the Hamas, Hezbollah, or the Taliban, to train their youths under Operation Lightening, to save their own communities too from terrorist attacks
Bayari is a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Jos Crisis
