By Opeyemi Adelakun
Nollywood actor Emeka Ike has instituted a N10 billion lawsuit against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Lere Olayinka, media aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, over the alleged unlawful disclosure of his personal voter information.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1272/2026, was filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja on June 15, with the actor accusing both defendants of violating his constitutional right to privacy and protections guaranteed under Nigeria’s data protection laws.
The legal dispute stems from a social media post made in May by Olayinka, who shared screenshots purportedly showing details of Ike’s voter registration transfer from Imo State to Abuja. The publication was reportedly used to question the actor’s eligibility to contest a House of Representatives seat in the Federal Capital Territory.
The disclosure sparked public outrage, with many Nigerians alleging that the information originated from a restricted INEC administrative portal meant exclusively for electoral officials.
Following the controversy, INEC denied claims that its database had been hacked, explaining that the incident resulted from the misuse of legitimate internal access credentials by one of its personnel.
Subsequently, operatives of the Force Intelligence Department–Intelligence Response Team (FID-IRT) reportedly questioned Olayinka and an electoral officer as part of investigations into the alleged data breach.
Through his lawyer, Leonard Adeh, Ike is asking the court to declare that the publication of his voter records without his consent amounted to a gross violation of his privacy and personal data rights as protected under Section 37 of the Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023.
The actor further argued that INEC failed in its statutory responsibility to safeguard sensitive voter information from unauthorised access and disclosure.
Among the reliefs sought, Ike is requesting an order compelling Olayinka to remove the social media post, issue a written apology, and publish the apology in three national newspapers for two consecutive weeks.
He is also seeking N10 billion in aggravated and general damages jointly against INEC and Olayinka for the alleged breach of his fundamental rights.
The court is yet to fix a date for hearing in the matter.
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