The Nigeria Police Force has raided facilities allegedly used to manipulate online discussions ahead of the 2027 general elections and arrested a suspect accused of spreading false information about a political candidate from the South-South region.
The Punch reported that the operations were carried out following investigations into alleged coordinated efforts to influence public opinion and voter behaviour through the use of automated accounts and multiple mobile phones.
Assistant Commissioner of Police, Bashir Abdullahi, who represented the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, disclosed this on Wednesday during a webinar organised by the PUNCH Media Foundation, titled ‘AI, Misinformation and Nigeria’s 2027 Elections: Safeguarding the Truth, Protecting the Vote’.
Abdullahi explained that the facilities, commonly referred to as phone farms, were designed to create the impression that a large number of people were engaging in particular online conversations, when the activities were actually controlled by a few individuals.
“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 said.
Describing the operations of the facilities, the police official said multiple mobile devices and bots were deployed to circulate information simultaneously to influence public perception.
“They call it phone farms, where you have bots arranged to manipulate and spread information simultaneously, making you believe that a whole lot of people are talking about the same subject.
“Meanwhile, it is just an individual behind hundreds of phones, arranged in what they call a phone farm, so that they can manipulate the system. The police were able to disrupt this,” he added.
The ACP further revealed that a suspect had been arrested over the alleged circulation of misleading information concerning a political candidate from the South-South region.
According to him, the suspect allegedly disseminated claims about activities that had either not occurred or were still being planned, with the intention of shaping voters’ perceptions and damaging the candidate’s reputation.
“As I am talking to you now, we have somebody in our custody who came up with this kind of information regarding one of the candidates from the South-South part of the country, carrying information regarding things that were not done or that were in the pipeline and said that they were not done, just to predict voter behaviour, and then make them behave in a manner that is negatively targeted to disparage these candidates,” Abdullahi said.
He said the police traced the origin of the information after investigating the complaint, leading to the arrest of the suspect.
Abdullahi warned that individuals found guilty of spreading false information capable of threatening the credibility of the electoral process would face arrest and prosecution.
“What we are doing now is, first of all, to send the message that the police are ready to arrest any person found spreading false information.
“Two, we are going to carry out investigations. Three, we will ensure that such a person is prosecuted. This is a message for people not to even contemplate doing that kind of behaviour,” he said.
Speaking on the growing threat of artificial intelligence-generated misinformation, Abdullahi said the police had acquired cyber solutions capable of identifying deepfake videos, manipulated photographs and cloned audio recordings with up to 99 per cent accuracy.
He warned that AI-generated content could be used to falsely portray candidates, public officials and electoral authorities as making statements they never made, potentially misleading voters ahead of the elections.
The police official also disclosed that digital forensic analysis was being conducted on audio recordings, photographs and videos shared on social media to determine whether they had been manipulated.
He added that the force had established an election monitoring room and begun intelligence gathering in preparation for the 2027 polls.
However, Abdullahi said the police would respect legitimate public opinion and would only take action where the relevant legal provisions had been established.
“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 said.
He urged Nigerians to rely on the Independent National Electoral Commission for verified election-related information, particularly announcements concerning possible changes to the election timetable.
