Nigerian Nollywood actor, Emeka Ike has sued the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the spokesperson to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Lere Olayinka, over the alleged unauthorized release of his voter registration information.
The suit, filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja on June 15, 2026, is marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1272/2026; Ike is seeking N10 billion in damages, claiming that the reveal of his personal voter data violated his constitutional right to privacy.
According to court documents, the actor’s voter registration transfer details from Imo State to the Federal Capital Territory were shared publicly on social media by Olayinka without his consent as the publication reportedly sparked controversy over Ike’s involvement in political activities related to a House of Representatives seat in Abuja.
Ike through his lawyer, Leonard Adeh, argued that the information was obtained from a restricted section of INEC’s voter registration database and should not have been made public.
He maintained that the release of the data breached provisions of the 1999 Constitution, the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, and international human rights standards protecting personal information.
The veteran actor further accused INEC of failing to adequately secure sensitive voter records entrusted to the commission and insisted that the electoral body has a legal duty to protect citizens’ personal data from unauthorized access and disclosure.
Although INEC had earlier denied any hacking of its Continuous Voter Registration database but the commission acknowledged that the incident resulted from the misuse of authorized internal access credentials.
As part of the reliefs sought, Ike is requesting a court declaration that his privacy rights were violated; He is also asking the court to compel Olayinka to remove the publication from his X account and issue a public apology.
In addition, the actor wants both respondents held jointly liable for the alleged breach and directed to publish apologies in national newspapers alongside the payment of N10 billion in aggravated and general damages.
