The Polling Unit Ambassadors of Nigeria has unveiled a digital application designed to expose electoral malpractices and improve transparency at polling units across the country.
The PUAN Ambassador-General, Captain Dabas Suleiman, disclosed this on Friday in Abuja during the official unveiling of the PUAN App.
Suleiman said the initiative would deploy technology to enable citizens to monitor activities at polling units and promote accountability in the electoral process.
He said the platform would also encourage citizens to monitor government projects and demand answers on how public resources were being utilised.
“From a rural road to health centres, from schools to water infrastructure, from one-level project to major federal interventions, citizens should be able to ask questions.
“What was promised? What was approved? What was delivered? And is this serving the people?” he asked.
Suleiman stressed that the initiative was not designed for confrontation but to promote responsible citizenship and constructive accountability.
“We want citizens who do not merely complain about Nigeria, but participate in improving Nigeria,” he said.
According to him, the launch followed preparations that began on July 6, 2026, followed by media engagement on July 7 and an international press conference on July 31.
He, however, said the unveiling was only the beginning, noting that the real test would be taking the technology to communities across the country.
“The real test is how we can take this innovation from this hall to the communities.
“From Abuja to every state. From every state to every local government. From every local government to every ward. And ultimately to the polling unit communities, where Nigerians exercise their democratic rights,” he said.
Suleiman called on government institutions, electoral stakeholders, political parties, civil society organisations, development partners, traditional institutions, technology experts, the media and citizens to support the initiative.
“Let us use technology to bring citizens closer to the democratic process.
“Let us use information to empower, not to manipulate. Let us use data responsibly. Let us promote fact-based civic engagement.
“Let us use our platform to promote peace, not hatred,” he said.
The PUAN leader also urged young Nigerians to contribute their energy, ideas, innovation and patriotism towards building the country.
He said democracy could not be left to politicians or government alone.
“Democracy is everybody’s business,” he declared.
Suleiman urged Nigerians to move from being spectators to participants, and from participation to responsibility and accountability.
He said PUAN would work towards building a network of informed, disciplined, trained, technologically equipped and patriotic citizens across the country.
The organisation, he added, would extend its activities from urban centres to rural communities and from polling units in Nigeria to citizens in the diaspora.
Suleiman said the organisation would promote citizens who understand the electoral process, respect the rights of others, reject violence, refuse to spread misinformation, report facts and promote peace during and after elections.
He also stressed the importance of political tolerance, saying Nigerians could disagree politically without becoming enemies.
“Political competition must never become a war against our fellow citizens.
“An election should determine who governs us. It should not determine where we belong,” he said.
Also speaking, the Secretary-General of PUAN, Ambassador Prince Osa Osagie, said the organisation’s focus had always been on promoting the integrity of elections.
Osagie said the deployment of technology would help increase participation and expose activities at polling units for the public to see.
“Every election starts at the polling units, and the conduct of every election at the polling unit determines how the election is actually done or seen from every angle,” he said.
According to him, the PUAN App would enable the world to see live activities taking place at polling units.
He said the initiative would ensure that “the people’s voice and the people’s choice” count in the electoral process.
Osagie said the technology would also help shine a light on what he described as “dark spots” at polling units.
“For the first time, we are deploying technology to the Osun State election, for instance, so that all the dark spots in the polling units, for the first time, should be eliminated,” he said.
He listed ballot box snatching and other forms of manipulation among the practices the initiative seeks to expose.
“So that all those nefarious acts that have been happening in the polling unit, where there are incidents, ballot box snatching, the different manipulations at the polling units, we will beam such light on them, and then everybody will see,” Osagie said.
He disclosed that PUAN would deploy personnel to every polling unit, not only in Osun State but across Nigeria.
He said the aim was to ensure that activities at polling units were shown to the world in real time while elections were taking place.
In his keynote address, Professor, Ambassador and investor, Michael Abiodun Michael, called on political leaders to de-escalate tensions and reject violence and hate speech.
He also urged the judiciary to protect the integrity of the democratic process.
“The judiciary, you are the last line of defence for our democracy.
“The public must never perceive you as a tool in the hands of politicians. Justice must not only be done; it must be seen to be done,” Michael said.
He urged citizens to remain vigilant and defend democratic institutions beyond election day.
“Our role does not end with casting our votes,” he said.
Michael added that Nigerians must hold political leaders accountable every day and not only during elections.
“We must hold our leaders accountable, not just on election day, but every single day,” he said.
He challenged Nigerians to prove that the country’s democracy was resilient and that lessons had been learnt from past experiences.
“Let us commit ourselves to building a Nigeria where power is truly with the people and where the will of the people is the ultimate authority,” he said.
The unveiling comes amid renewed calls for greater transparency, citizen participation and accountability in Nigeria’s electoral process.