Emeka Ike's Lawyers Criticize INEC, Threaten Legal Action Against Lere Olayinka

The issue over actor Emeka Ike's voter registration details has heated up. His legal team says this raises serious concerns about data privacy, electoral integrity, and public trust in Nigeria’s election system.

At a press conference on Tuesday in Abuja, the lawyers for the actor and House of Representatives candidate slammed the online sharing of information said to be from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) database. They called it a major violation of privacy rights.

Ike, a well-known Nollywood actor, is running for the House of Representatives seat in the AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency in the Federal Capital Territory. This is his second attempt at politics.

His rivals include Micah Jiba from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), John Gabaya from the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the current officeholder, Joshua Obika, of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).

Ike's first political effort was in 2018 under the Young Progressive Party (YPP) in Imo State’s Ideato South constituency, where he lost to Paschal Obi from the Action Alliance (AA).

The lawyers questioned how sensitive voter information ended up online. They argued that this shows weaknesses in protecting personal data held by public institutions.

The problem started after Lere Olayinka, an aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, posted details from Ike's voter registration record on social media. This stirred a large conversation about data security and access to electoral records.

Speaking to reporters, lead counsel Leonard Adeh said this incident is not just an attack on his client but is significant for the country’s democratic institutions.

Adeh said, “I view this situation, this very saddening situation, from two different perspectives. The first side is on my client, Honourable Emeka. I think this action by Lanre is a serious criminal breach of his right to privacy. Some external laws and regulations deal with situations of this nature.

“The INEC server or INEC database is one of the most sensitive and highly secured databases that one would expect would not be breached. On the other hand, it is also a very serious damage to INEC’s public trust, and it strikes directly at the credibility of INEC in conducting the entire electoral process.”

Adeh added that he and his client, along with the public, were shocked by Olayinka’s choice to leak sensitive material on social media.

He also said that Olayinka's actions not only embarrassed his client but also hurt democracy and posed a threat to national security.

“Now, it is a very serious crime against his person, which is something that legal actions, appropriate legal actions, will be taken accordingly.

“So we have been reviewing the situation, and we are taking appropriate steps to ensure that we involve relevant law enforcement agencies to deal with the situation, and also consider civil actions. And I must say for a fact that this will eventually result in consequential damages for this reckless and brutal action.”

Abdulhameed Otori, who also spoke at the press conference, said if Olayinka, a ministerial appointee, could leak Ike’s data, then nobody's data is safe with INEC.

He added that the electoral body should formally address the issue and work hard to regain the trust Nigerians have lost.

“If they can do this to a very well-known personality, just under whatever guise, gifting Mr Olayinka information about Mr Emeka Ike, under whatever guise, I keep mentioning this, whatever his intentions were, it is totally unacceptable. It is not only condemnable but also unacceptable, as he has rightfully demanded.

“We all demand that he retract that statement from the social media posting and then issue a public apology. And then the INEC itself should come out. We read that they have issued a press release to that effect. Well, it’s not enough to make a press release, and now redressing the matter,” he said.

Otori said INEC must act on this issue and show its fairness ahead of the upcoming general elections.

“They’ve engaged in several things that we know; we have almost lost confidence in them. It is just for them to build that confidence back. And this is one of the major steps they can take: not only clarifying their positions but also ensuring they act transparently and remain unbiased in the forthcoming general election. So, to be unbiased, they should act accordingly in this particular matter.

“It is a weighty issue. It’s not a light matter. It’s not something that can be swept under the carpet as we usually think. Mr Lere must have this be the end of his wishful thinking in the media space. You can’t just be going about attacking people, attacking people’s personality. Anyone who does not align with your own interests or your boss’s interests, you attack recklessly. That is not befitting of a person of his age,” he said.

Meanwhile, INEC has responded to the issue over how the data was obtained and shared in a statement signed by its National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Mohammed Haruna, on Tuesday.

The commission also said it has started an investigation into the matter.

The commission said, “The Commission takes this allegation seriously and has immediately commenced a thorough investigation to establish the facts surrounding the incident.

“As part of the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise nationwide, authorised INEC Registration Officers were granted controlled access to specific components of the CVR system to enable them to register new applicants, process requests for transfer of registration and update voter records where necessary.”

Furthermore, the commission said the information shared by Olayinka was meant only for official use.

INEC added that it is looking into all technical, administrative, and operational factors linked to the incident to find out who is responsible and how it happened.

The commission also said it is reviewing the circumstances surrounding the use of access credentials, finding any breaches of internal access-control protocols, and will take action against anyone found at fault.

“Such access is restricted to official duties only and is withdrawn at the conclusion of the exercise. The audit trail from the preliminary investigation has enabled the Commission to identify the user account used to access the information.

“Accordingly, relevant personnel have been questioned, and all units connected with the incident are cooperating fully with the investigation.”

Additionally, INEC said its preliminary findings showed no external breach of the CVR database and no hacking of its website.

The commission asked the public and the media to disregard baseless rumors while investigations continue.

“The Commission will continue to keep the public informed of its final findings and any measures taken in response to the incident in due course. Preliminary findings from the Commission’s audit trail, however, indicate that there was no external breach of the CVR database, no hacking incident, and no unauthorized external access to the Commission’s ICT infrastructure.

“Rather, the information in question was accessed through valid user credentials assigned to personnel participating in the ongoing CVR exercise but released without authority. The incident under investigation relates to the retrieval of a specific voter record and does not indicate any compromise of the Commission’s broader voter registration infrastructure or the personal data of over 90 million registered voters,” said INEC.

The commission confirmed that, besides its own investigation, another government agency has also started looking into the matter.

“The Commission wishes to state categorically that it takes the security, confidentiality, and integrity of voter data very seriously and remains committed to transparency, institutional integrity, and the protection of voters’ personal information.

“Furthermore, the Department of State Services (DSS), on its own accord, has begun an independent investigation into the matter. The Commission will continue to cooperate fully with all relevant security agencies and will not hesitate to refer any person found culpable for appropriate legal action,” INEC said.