The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Department of State Services, DSS have opened investigations into alleged unauthorized access to Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) database in the country by an unauthorized person.
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Mohammed Kudu Haruna, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC) said this in obvious response to controversies over alleged leakage of the registration details of Nollywood artiste, Emeka Ike by Lere Olayinka, the media aide to Minister of Federal Capital Territory on social media platforms.
Olayinka had leaked the voter registration information of Ike, who is an aspirant for FCT House of Representative seat on the platform of Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, the during the primaries of the party held last weekend.
Though INEC did not mention Olayinka in its press release on the issue on Tuesday, it was clear that the commission was referring to the incident which has led to calls for probe of the media aide and apprehensions about the security of the CVR database ahead of the 2027 general election.
“The Commission takes this allegation seriously and has immediately commenced a thorough investigation to establish the facts surrounding the incident,” Mohammed said while explaining how Olayinka may had obtained access to registration details of Ike and the findings by the Commission so far.
He linked the leakage to Registration officers granted access to the CVR database as part of the ongoing voter registration exercise nationwide.
According to him, the Registration Officers were granted controlled access to specific components of the CVR system to enable them register new applicants, process requests for transfer of registration and update voter records where necessary.
He added that such access is restricted to official duties only and is withdrawn at the conclusion of the exercise.
Consequently, Mohammed said audit trail from the preliminary investigation has enabled the Commission to identify the user account through which Ike’s information was accessed.
He added that relevant personnel have been questioned, and all units connected with the incident are cooperating fully with the investigation.
“The Commission is also examining all technical, administrative and operational factors associated with the matter in order to establish individual responsibility and determine the “circumstances surrounding the use of those credentials and identify any breach of internal access-control protocols before taking appropriate action against anyone involved.
However, Mohammed said preliminary findings from the Commission’s audit trail so far did not reveal any external breach of the CVR database, hacking incident or unauthorised 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” he said.
“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.
“The Commission wishes to state categorically that it takes the security, confidentiality and integrity of voter data with the utmost seriousness and remains committed to transparency, institutional integrity, and the protection of voters’ personal information,” the Commissioner said.
He added that the DSS has also on its own accords commenced 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.
“Members of the public and the media are therefore urged to disregard unfounded speculations while investigations remain ongoing. 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.
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