Nollywood veteran and politician Emeka Ike has fired a strong legal salvo against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Lere Olayinka, media aide to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, demanding a whopping N10 billion in damages over the alleged unlawful leak of his personal voter registration details.
The actor, who recently declared his ambition to contest for the House of Representatives in the FCT, filed the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1272/2026 at the Federal High Court in Abuja on June 15, 2026.
The controversy erupted in May after Lere Olayinka shared screenshots on his verified X account showing Emeka Ike’s voter registration transfer from Imo State to the Federal Capital Territory. The leaked information reportedly included sensitive details accessed from INEC’s restricted administrative portal.
Read “I’ll Take Him On!” — Emeka Ike Slams Olayinka Over INEC Data Leak
Through his lawyer, Leonard Adeh, Emeka Ike accused the defendants of breaching his fundamental right to privacy under Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution, the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, and international human rights standards. He argued that the data was released without his consent and used to question his eligibility as a political aspirant.
The actor is demanding several reliefs from the court, including:
• A declaration that his privacy rights were violated
• An order for the immediate removal of the controversial post from X
• A written public apology from both INEC and Olayinka
• Publication of the apology in national newspapers
• N10 billion in aggravated and general damages
INEC has denied any hacking of its Continuous Voter Registration system but admitted that the exposure may have resulted from the misuse of valid internal access credentials by authorised personnel. The commission said it has commenced investigations in collaboration with the Department of State Services (DSS).