The Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned until July 22, 2026, for further mention in the ₦10 billion fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by Nollywood actor and politician, Emeka Ike, against the Independent National Electoral Commission and Lere Olayinka, media aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
![](https://thenigerialawyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/2026-Summer-IDRI-Masterclass.jpg")
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1272/2026, is before Justice S. O. Ibrahim.
At the resumed proceedings, counsel for the plaintiff, L. T. Adeh, informed the court that the first respondent, Olayinka, had served his response to the suit.
Adeh also told the court that hearing notices had been served on both respondents, but noted that the second respondent, INEC, was absent from court.
He consequently prayed the court for an adjournment to enable the electoral body to appear and participate in the proceedings.
Counsel for Olayinka, Akpama Ekwe, did not oppose the application for adjournment, but told the court that he was ready to proceed with the matter.
Adeh further informed the court that he would file his response to the first respondent’s counter-affidavit between Thursday and Friday.
Justice Ibrahim, in a short ruling, said the court would grant a brief adjournment in the interest of fair hearing and to afford INEC an opportunity to appear.
Ekwe, however, urged the court to fix the matter for hearing, arguing that INEC could not be compelled to appear.
The judge maintained that the short adjournment was necessary to give the electoral body another opportunity to participate in the proceedings.
He subsequently adjourned the case until July 22 for further mention.
The court also ordered that INEC be served with a hearing notice alongside all processes filed in the suit before the next adjourned date.
The suit stems from allegations that Ike’s personal voter registration details were unlawfully disclosed on Olayinka’s official X handle after screenshots showing the transfer of his voter registration from Imo State to the Federal Capital Territory surfaced on social media.
Ike contends that the information was published without his consent and allegedly accessed from a restricted INEC administrative portal.
He is seeking ₦10 billion in damages for the alleged breach of his right to privacy.
The actor is also asking the court to order the removal of the social media post and compel a public apology.
INEC had earlier maintained that the incident did not result from a cyberattack on its database, but from the alleged misuse of authorised internal access credentials.
Speaking with journalists after the proceedings, counsel for Olayinka, Ekwe, described the evidence tendered by the plaintiff as inadmissible.
He argued that his client did not breach any law or commit any offence.
According to him, INEC had already issued a statement stating that there was no breach of its servers.
“There is no case against my client. What my client published, apart from being in the public domain, does not contain any personal information,” Ekwe said.
“The only thing that document contained is the name of Emeka Ike and the transfer number. The second document contained his passport photograph and his name.
“So you will agree with me that there was no personal data that was published as is alleged. So there is actually no case against my client.”
On his part, Ike’s counsel, Adeh, said he believed INEC had no defence in the matter, alleging that the Commission’s absence from court was not accidental.
Adeh expressed confidence in his client’s case, saying the suit would serve as a precedent to prevent future breaches of voters’ data.
He said the concern went beyond Ike’s personal case, arguing that if the actor’s voter information could allegedly be accessed and circulated, other citizens’ records could also be vulnerable.
“It is very possible that whoever accessed this thing must have also been able to access other records. So it is not just Emeka Ike,” Adeh said.
“But we want to use Emeka Ike’s issue and also ensure that this kind of thing is put in check. I think this is going to be a very interesting case, and we hope that the court will do justice.”
The latest adjournment follows the court’s earlier order fixing July 2 for further mention after the respondents were served with processes in the suit.
The matter will now come up on July 22, 2026, when the court is expected to confirm service on INEC and determine the next step in the proceedings.
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