At the early hours of the morning of the Ekiti State election, at exactly 8:25 AM, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) posted an official “Election Emergency Line” via X for citizens to communicate with security personnel. However, four hours into the Ekiti elections, the official number shared as the primary reporting channel for election matters, “080062335577,” did not go through.
We tried calling this number at about 10:50 AM, 11:24 AM, and 12:11 PM, and each time, the automated network feedback flatly stated, “This number does not exist.”
With further scrutiny of the digit string, we observed that the shared number was 12 digits, above the usual 11-digit standard for Nigerian mobile lines. This structure suggests the police attempted to route a standard line through an 0800 toll-free system, a telecom configuration designed to let citizens call for help for free without using their personal airtime. However, toll-free lines in Nigeria often suffer from severe inter-network routing glitches across different carriers. Realizing this, we decided to remove the second zero to test the underlying standard mobile number: 08062335577.
We tried this corrected 11-digit number at about 12:40 PM, and it went through instantly. We had reached the police command. A man at the other end of the line spoke. We attempted to alert him that the toll-free version had been incorrectly formatted or was failing online, but the respondent was more interested in simply confirming we had reached the command and told us that we could just “remove one zero” to call them.
While that manual fix works for an individual, it does nothing for the thousands of voters relying on the official broadcast or those who will be in dire need of utilizing the free toll channel. We went further to reply to the tweet on X to notify the NPF that the number was failing, but hours have passed with no response or corrective post. Instead, the same non-functional number was posted again here by the NPF official handle today, somewhat undercutting the police’s commendable efforts at fighting electoral offenses that undermine democracy, such as vote buying, vote selling, ballot box snatching, intimidation, and violence.
Democratic elections rely heavily on robust voter participation, but the fear of localized violence and disinformation that has historically marred Nigeria’s elections often suppresses turnout. While the physical protection of voters’ lives and the security of ballots are foundational tenets of upholding democracy, the communication channels through which observed electoral offenses are reported are just as critical as the security operations themselves.
Modern democratic vulnerability exists heavily online, tied directly to the data and statements shared by electoral and security institutions. When an official toll-free safety net fails due to a structural error or lack of carrier testing, it creates a digital bottleneck. Correct and transparent institutional updates go a long way in preventing bad actors from exploiting an information vacuum to stir up civil unrest or undermine public trust in the electoral outcome.
We spoke to Amarachi Onwulike, a FactChecker at Dubawa, who shared that it’s dangerous for the security operators to have a failed toll-free number. She hinted that circulating such a number on social media is also misleading for the citizens and FactCheckers who would want to reach out to the police to report or confirm claims.
As security personnel are mobilized to secure votes and ensure a peaceful electoral exercise, the clarity and reliability of their communication channels must match the strength of their physical deployment.
