Emeka Ike sues INEC, Wike’s aide over data leak, seeks N10bn compensation

Nollywood actor Emeka Ike has instituted a legal action 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 the defendants of violating his constitutional right to privacy and protection of personal data.

The case stems from a social media post made by Olayinka in May, in which screenshots purportedly showing details of Ike’s voter registration transfer from Imo State to the FCT were published on X. The information was reportedly sourced from a restricted INEC administrative portal and was used to question the actor’s eligibility to contest a House of Representatives seat in Abuja.

The disclosure triggered widespread criticism, with many Nigerians alleging that Olayinka had gained unauthorised access to a secure electoral database. INEC subsequently denied reports of an external hack of its Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) database, stating that the incident resulted from the misuse of valid internal credentials by authorised personnel.

Investigators from the Force Intelligence Department–Intelligence Response Team (FID-IRT) later questioned Olayinka and an INEC official over the alleged leak of voter records from the commission’s portal.

Through his lawyer, Leonard Adeh, Ike is asking the court to declare that the publication of his voter information without consent constitutes a gross violation of his right to privacy as guaranteed under Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution, Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Sections 24 and 39 of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023.

“A DECLARATION that the 1st and 2nd Respondent are jointly liable and responsible to the Applicant for breach and gross violation of the Applicant’s fundamental right to privacy and the protection of personal data… AN ORDER directing the 1st Respondent to immediately retract and pull down the offensive post and publication on his social media X handle… N10,000,000,000.00 (Ten Billion Naira) as aggravated and general damages,” part of the suit reads.

The actor further contended that INEC has a statutory responsibility to safeguard the personal information of registered voters and should be held accountable for any unauthorised access or disclosure of such records. Among the reliefs sought are N10 billion in damages against INEC and Olayinka, the removal of the social media post, and a public apology to be published on Olayinka’s X account and in three national newspapers for two consecutive weeks.