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Nollywood actor and politician, Emeka Ike, has filed a ₦10 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 at the Federal High Court in Abuja on June 15, with the actor accusing both defendants of violating his constitutional right to privacy and data protection.
The legal action follows a social media post published by Olayinka in May, which allegedly contained screenshots showing details of Ike’s voter registration transfer from Imo State to the FCT.
The information, reportedly obtained from a restricted INEC administrative portal, was used to question the actor’s eligibility to contest for a House of Representatives seat in Abuja.
The publication triggered widespread criticism, with many Nigerians raising concerns over unauthorised access to sensitive electoral records.
INEC later denied reports that its Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) database had been hacked, explaining 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) subsequently questioned both Olayinka and an INEC official over the alleged leak.
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Through his lawyer, Leonard Adeh, Ike is asking the court to declare that the publication of his voter information without consent amounts to a violation of his rights 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.
Part of the court filing reads:
“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…”
“₦10,000,000,000 (Ten Billion Naira) as aggravated and general damages.”
The actor also argued that INEC has a statutory obligation to protect the personal information of registered voters and should be held accountable for any unauthorised access or disclosure.
Among the reliefs sought are ₦10 billion in damages, the immediate 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.
