Nollywood actor, Emeka Ike, has filed a fundamental rights enforcement suit against the Independent National Electoral Commission and Lere Olayinka, media aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, over the alleged unauthorised publication of his voter information.
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The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1272/2026, was filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday, June 15, 2026.
The dispute arose after Olayinka allegedly shared screenshots on X in May showing details of Ike’s voter registration transfer from Imo State to the Federal Capital Territory.
The screenshots were said to contain information that appeared to have been obtained from a restricted administrative portal of INEC.
Olayinka had posted the details while questioning the actor’s eligibility to contest a House of Representatives seat in Abuja following his recent primary activities.
The post generated public criticism, with some Nigerians alleging that the information could only have been accessed through a password-protected backend system meant for authorised INEC officials.
INEC later denied claims of a major breach or external hacking of its Continuous Voter Registration database. The commission attributed the unauthorised disclosure of Ike’s voter information to the alleged misuse of valid internal credentials by authorised personnel.
Investigators from the Force Intelligence Department–Intelligence Response Team were also said to have questioned Olayinka and an electoral officer over the alleged leak of voter data from the INEC portal.
In the suit filed through his counsel, Leonard Adeh, Ike is asking the court to declare that Olayinka’s publication of his personal voter information on X without his consent amounted to a gross breach of his fundamental right to privacy and protection of personal data.
He argued that his right to privacy and data protection is guaranteed 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.
The actor is also asking the court to hold that INEC owes him and other registered voters a statutory duty of care to protect their personal information against unauthorised access, exploitation and publication.
He contended that INEC’s press release of June 2, 2026, issued in response to the viral publication of his voter information, amounted to a tacit admission of failure to ensure strict protection, safety and security of his personal records.
Ike is seeking a declaration that INEC and Olayinka are jointly liable for the alleged breach of his fundamental right to privacy and protection of personal data.
He is also asking the court to order Olayinka to immediately retract and pull down the publication from his X handle, @OlayinkaLere, and tender an unreserved written apology to him.
The actor further wants the apology to be published on Olayinka’s X handle and in three national newspapers — The Punch, The Nation and ThisDay — consecutively for two weeks, in order to give it wide circulation similar to the publicity received by the disputed post.
Ike is also demanding ₦10bn as aggravated and general damages against INEC and Olayinka jointly and severally for the alleged breach of his right to privacy and protection of personal data.
He described the alleged access, exploitation and publication of his voter information as unlawful and a violation of constitutional and statutory protections governing citizens’ private data.
The case is expected to test the scope of INEC’s duty to protect voter records, the legal responsibility of persons who publish restricted voter information, and the growing application of Nigeria’s data protection laws to political and electoral disputes.
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