The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the State Security Service (SSS) are looking into claims that someone accessed the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) database without permission. This follows a social media post from Lere Olayinka, the spokesperson for the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. His post seemed to show details from INEC's voter registration records.
INEC spokesperson, Mohammed Haruna, shared that early findings from their audit trail helped them discover the user account that accessed the information. Haruna assured Nigerians that there was no sign of an external cyberattack on their systems.
“Preliminary findings from the Commission’s audit trail so far 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,” the statement said.
Mr Olayinka had posted screenshots of Nollywood actor Emeka Ike's voter details on Saturday. He was criticizing the actor, who plans to run for a seat in the Federal House of Representatives, representing the AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency in the FCT.
“Emeka Ike was a registered voter in Imo State. He only transferred his INEC Registration to the FCT on May 15, 2026 (15 days ago). And he wants to contest for House of Reps in Abuja,” Mr Olayinka posted on X.
“Someone who has never voted in the FCT o. What happened to his Imo State.” Social media users noticed that the records included the admin site of the electoral commission. This raised questions about how he accessed the commission’s data.
As of the time of this report, the post was still available. PEEMIUM TIMES could not reach Mr Olayinka for a comment. He did not answer calls or reply to messages from the reporter.
INEC did not name Mr Olayinka in their response, but they said they took the allegations seriously. They immediately started a thorough investigation to find out what happened.
They revealed that early findings from the audit trail helped them identify the user account that accessed the information. “Relevant personnel have been questioned, and all units connected with the incident are cooperating fully with the investigation,” the statement added.
INEC said that authorized registration officers involved in the ongoing CVR exercise were given controlled access to parts of the registration system. This was to help process new voter registrations, transfers, and updates.
The commission emphasized that this access is only for official duties and is taken away after the exercise ends. Investigators are looking into technical, administrative, and operational issues to see how the credentials were used. They want to find out if any access-control rules were broken.
INEC explained that the information in question was accessed using valid credentials assigned to those involved in the voter registration exercise. But it was shared without permission.
They clarified that the incident being investigated involved getting a specific voter record. It did not mean that their overall voter registration system or the personal data of over 90 million registered voters was compromised.
INEC also mentioned that the State Security Services (SSS) had started its own investigation into this issue. “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,” the statement concluded.
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