A federal high court in Abuja has dismissed the N10 billion fundamental rights suit filed by Nollywood actor Emeka Ike against Lere Olayinka, senior special assistant to Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the alleged violation of his privacy.
Presiding judge Salim Ibrahim dismissed the suit, ruling that it was “incompetent and improperly constituted” and lacked sufficient proof.
Ike had approached the court after Olayinka shared details of his voter registration transfer from Imo State to Abuja on X, raising questions about his eligibility to contest the AMAC/Bwari federal constituency seat in the 2027 general elections.
The actor had sought to contest the seat under the platform of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) but lost the party’s primary election.
Ike accused Olayinka of publishing his personal voter information without his consent, describing the action as a violation of his fundamental right to privacy and personal data protection.
He also challenged INEC’s June 2 press statement, arguing that it amounted to an admission of responsibility for the circulation of his private voter information on social media.
Among other reliefs, the actor asked the court to compel Olayinka to delete the post, retract the publication and issue a written apology. He also sought N10 billion in aggravated and general damages against both defendants.
The disclosure sparked public debate over the security of Nigeria’s electoral database, with some Nigerians on social media alleging that Olayinka may have accessed INEC’s password-protected system without authorisation.
INEC, however, denied allegations of a large-scale security breach or external hacking of its Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) database.
In their separate counter-affidavits, INEC and Olayinka urged the court to dismiss the case, arguing that the information was neither confidential nor unlawfully obtained.
INEC maintained that it had the legal authority to make certain voter information available to the public without consent and disputed Ike’s claim that the information shared by Olayinka originated from the commission.
Olayinka, meanwhile, argued that the document he published contained only Ike’s name and passport photograph, details he claimed were already publicly available. He also maintained that Ike had previously made the same information public when declaring his intention to contest the election.
The FCT minister’s aide said his post was intended to draw attention to Ike’s voter registration transfer and the relevant provisions of the Electoral Act. He further denied responsibility for any injury allegedly suffered by the actor.
Olayinka also argued that he was not a data controller under the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023, and therefore had no legal duty to protect the information in question.
He described Ike’s N10 billion claim as unjustified and urged the court to dismiss the suit in the interest of justice.
Justice Ibrahim ultimately upheld the objections raised by the defendants and dismissed the case.
