Police says it has uncovered ‘cellphone farms’ because it arrests suspect over election misinformation

Crime

By Linda Ikeji
11 November 2026, 5:14 pm

The Nigeria Police Force says it has raided services allegedly used to control on-line discussions forward of the 2027 common elections. Police additionally arrested a suspect accused of spreading false details about a politician from the South-South.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Bashir Abdullahi disclosed the operations on Wednesday throughout a webinar organised by the PUNCH Media Foundation titled “AI, Misinformation and Nigeria’s 2027 Elections: Safeguarding the Truth, Protecting the Vote”. He represented Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu on the occasion.

Abdullahi stated police found the services, referred to as cellphone farms, whereas investigating suspected efforts to intrude with the elections.

“We have recently come across information regarding the coordinated effort being made by some individuals to see that they tamper with our elections. Having dissected the information, we were able to carry out targeted raids at phone farms,” he stated.

He defined {that a} single operator may use a whole bunch of telephones and automatic accounts to unfold messages concurrently, creating the impression that many individuals have been independently discussing or selling the identical challenge. He stated the raids disrupted the operation.

Abdullahi stated officers investigating a criticism traced allegedly false stories a few South-South candidate to a suspect who was now in custody. He alleged that the stories have been supposed to discredit the candidate and affect voters.

The police would examine and search to prosecute individuals discovered to have unfold false data able to undermining the electoral course of, Abdullahi stated. He added that enforcement could be guided by the legislation and that police wouldn’t intrude with authentic public debate.

“If the relevant legal elements are not established, we cannot go out and disrupt the peaceful conduct of public opinion. We cannot do that,” he stated.

Abdullahi additionally stated the power had acquired instruments that he claimed may detect deepfake movies, manipulated pictures and cloned audio with as much as 99 per cent accuracy. He warned that such content material may make candidates, public officers or election authorities seem to say issues they by no means stated.

The power is conducting digital forensic examinations of audio, video and pictures circulating on social media, he stated. It has additionally arrange an election monitoring room and begun gathering intelligence forward of the polls.

Abdullahi urged Nigerians to confirm election bulletins by way of the Independent National Electoral Commission, notably claims that the election timetable had modified.