Background

Last week, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) launched an AI-based platform, PAWSON-Monitor, to pilot monitoring of digital rights, data and privacy breaches ahead of the Osun State gubernatorial election scheduled for Saturday, August 15, 2026. The platform was trained to track and document instances of digital rights violations and data and privacy breaches involving political actors and their digital presence – possible restrictions on contesting political parties’ websites, aspirants and their social media platforms, as well as potential misuse of citizens’ personal data for political campaigns. What CITAD aims to achieve with the monitoring platform is assessing whether equal opportunities and fair play are enjoyed by all the participating parties and aspirants as guaranteed by the democratic tenets before, during and after the Osun gubernatorial election. While this is serving as a pilot, CITAD plans to deploy the same platform to the 2027 general elections. This is the second report we are issuing based on the observations so far.

Updates for August 14, 2026

In the last 24 hours, our observatory, the PAWSON-Monitor, has monitored fifteen (15) political parties participating in the Osun gubernatorial election holding tomorrow, Saturday, August 15, returning a total of 17,888 checks on the websites of the parties. Eleven parties have their sites operational from all the over seventeen thousand checks run between yesterday and today; therefore, we can conclude that within the period during which this update is given, we haven’t recorded any anomalies to warrant urgent action or signal a deliberate attempt to undermine the digital presence of the parties.

However, four political parties, namely, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), and Action Peoples Party (APP), all have their websites operating with anomalies. Those of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) continue to require particular attention, while the Young Progressives Party (YPP) recorded a relatively low 57.3% success rate during the monitoring period.

Based on the data scraped and analysed, action is required from the parties to rectify the anomalies to be able to operate optimally and take advantage of the digital presence, especially at a crucial moment like this. We have also noticed that two more political parties that were previously not among those flagged to be operating with anomalies, PDP and APP, have taken a space in the stagnant position, and this has raised the number of parties with red flags on their sites. We therefore urge all political parties and especially those whose websites are currently operating with anomalies to take immediate measures to look into the issues and rectify them.

CITAD will continue monitoring the digital environment and conducting human and cross-network verification of emerging anomalies to ensure that any genuine disruption of political parties’ digital platforms is identified, documented and appropriately reported.

By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, says 1,906,390 registered voters in Osun have collected their Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, ahead of Saturday’s governorship election in the state.

Mohammed Haruna, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

Mr Haruna said the figure represented 81.50 per cent of the total 2,339,233 registered voters in the state.

He said 432,843, representing 18.50 per cent of the total, had yet to collect their PVCs.

According to him, the uncollected PVCs have been safely deposited with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in line with INEC’s established practice.

“Persons whose PVCs were damaged, defaced or lost applied for replacement of cards,” he said.

Mr Haruna disclosed that 6,101 voters had applied for and obtained printed downloadable copies of their PVCs.

He said the commission had published on its website the number of PVCs collected in each polling unit.

The national commissioner reassured political parties, civil society organisations, the media and voters of INEC’s readiness to conduct credible and transparent election on Saturday.

The Arewa Youth Merger Group, APC has faulted former Kano State Governor, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso over his claim that the people of Kano do not support the position of Islamic cleric, Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir on the Muslim-Muslim ticket in Nigeria.

This was contained in a statement signed by the National Coordinator of the Group, Comrade Musa Mujahid Zaitawa and made available to journalists.

The group described Kwankwaso’s criticism of Sheikh Jingir’s opinion as his personal view and not the position of the people of Kano State.

“It is wrong for Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to interfere with the opinion of a cleric who is exercising his constitutional right as a Nigerian citizen to express his views,” the statement read.

The group further stated that it was shameful for Kwankwaso to criticize the Muslim-Muslim ticket when FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, a Christian and member of the PDP, had publicly said there was nothing unconstitutional about it.

The Arewa Youth Merger Group also noted that even Mr. Peter Obi, the NDC presidential candidate for whom Kwankwaso a running mate, had admitted that there was no problem with the Muslim-Muslim ticket and had apologized for introducing religious division into his previous campaign.

The group said Kwankwaso’s attempt to challenge Sheikh Jingir was disgraceful and urged him to desist from making statements capable of causing division among Nigerians just to satisfy his personal political ambition.

The Arewa Youth Merger Group also reaffirmed its support for the Tinubu/Shettima Muslim-Muslim ticket ahead of the 2027 general elections.