Nollywood actor Emeka Ike has filed a 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 an alleged violation of his personal data rights.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1272/2026, was lodged at the Federal High Court in Abuja on June 15.
How the dispute began
The controversy began in May when Olayinka shared screenshots on X showing details of Ike’s voter registration transfer from Imo State to the Federal Capital Territory.
The information, which appeared to have been sourced from a restricted INEC administrative portal, was posted while Olayinka questioned the actor’s qualification to contest for a seat in the House of Representatives in Abuja following his participation in recent political primaries.
The publication triggered widespread criticism, with many Nigerians alleging that Olayinka had gained unauthorised access to a password-protected system intended solely for INEC personnel.
INEC later denied reports of a major security breach or hacking of its Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) database, explaining that the disclosure resulted from the misuse of valid internal credentials by authorised officials.
The Force Intelligence Department–Intelligence Response Team (FID-IRT) subsequently questioned Olayinka and an electoral officer over the alleged leak of voter information.
Ike’s demands before the court
Through his lawyer, Leonard Adeh, Ike is asking the court to rule that Olayinka’s publication of his voter information on X without consent constituted a violation of his constitutional right to privacy and personal data protection.
The actor argued that his rights are protected 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.
He further contended that INEC owes voters a statutory duty to safeguard their personal information from unauthorised access and disclosure.
Among the reliefs sought, Ike wants the court to declare that INEC and Olayinka are jointly liable for the alleged breach of his privacy rights.
He is also seeking an order compelling Olayinka to remove the disputed post from his X account, issue a written apology, and publish the apology in The Punch, The Nation, and ThisDay newspapers for two consecutive weeks.
In addition, the actor is demanding N10 billion in aggravated and general damages from both defendants for the alleged infringement of his fundamental right to privacy and protection of personal data.
In the court filing, Ike argued that INEC’s June 2, 2026 press statement on the matter amounted to “a tacit admission of guilt and liability” for failing to adequately protect his voter records and personal information.