Emeka Ike’s N10bn damages suit against Lere Olayinka, INEC dismissed

A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a N10 billion suit filed by Nollywood actor Emeka Ike against Lere Olayinka, a senior special assistant to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over an alleged violation of his privacy.

Ike instituted the suit after Olayinka shared information from the INEC database concerning the actor’s transfer of voter registration from Imo State to Abuja. The actor had sought to contest the AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency seat in the 2027 general elections on the platform of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) but lost the party’s primary election.

Olayinka had questioned Ike’s eligibility to contest for a House of Representatives seat in Abuja following his political activities. The publication also sparked concerns over the security of INEC’s electoral database, with some Nigerians alleging unauthorised access to the commission’s system.

Ike asked the court to declare that publishing his voter information on X without his consent violated his fundamental right to privacy and personal data protection. He also sought a declaration that INEC’s June 2 statement amounted to an admission of responsibility for the disclosure.

The actor further requested an order compelling Olayinka to delete the post, retract the publication and issue a written apology. He also sought N10 billion in general and aggravated damages against Olayinka and INEC jointly and severally.

However, INEC and Olayinka urged the court to dismiss the suit, arguing that the information was neither confidential nor unlawfully obtained. INEC maintained that it had the legal authority to make voters’ information available to the public and said the information shared by Olayinka did not originate from the commission.

Olayinka argued that the document contained only Ike’s name and passport photograph, which he said were already publicly available. He also denied responsibility for any injury suffered by the actor, citing INEC’s position that there had been no external breach or hacking of its Continuous Voter Registration database.

Delivering his ruling, Justice Salim Ibrahim agreed with the objections raised by Olayinka and INEC, describing the suit as “incompetent and improperly constituted”. The judge subsequently dismissed the case on the grounds of lack of proof.