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A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday threw out a ₦10 billion fundamental rights lawsuit filed by Nollywood actor Emeka Ike against Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Presiding Judge, Justice Salim Ibrahim, sustained the preliminary objections presented by the respondents, declaring the suit incompetent, defective in structure, and unsupported by necessary evidence.
The legal tussle arose after Ike, who sought the House of Representatives ticket for the AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency under the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) ahead of the 2027 elections, lost at the primary election.
Following the primary, Olayinka allegedly shared a post on X (formerly Twitter) in May, which the actor claimed ridiculed him by exposing details of his voter registration transfer from Imo State to Abuja.
In response, Ike filed suit FHC/ABJ/CS/1272/2026 through his attorney L. T. Adeh, urging the court to rule that publishing his record online without consent “amounts to gross breach and violation of the applicant’s fundamental right to privacy and the protection of personal data”.
Citing 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 applicant insisted that INEC owed him and all voters a “statutory duty of care” to shield private records from public exposure.
He consequently asked for ₦10 billion in joint damages, a formal retraction, a written apology, and a court order declaring that INEC’s June 2 statement regarding the incident served as a tacit admission of liability.
Opposing the lawsuit, both INEC and Olayinka filed separate counter-affidavits requesting a total dismissal of the claims.
INEC, in a counter-affidavit deposed to by Anthonia Makwe, an Assistant Director and Data Protection Officer, contended that voter registration details are public records rather than secret or confidential files.
The commission maintained that under the Electoral Act 2026, it possesses the “statutory and constitutional power to make available information of its voters to the general public without the consent of any registered voter.”
It clarified that its legal duties cover the compilation, publication, and maintenance of the voter register, adding that the screenshot circulated by Olayinka did not originate from its infrastructure.
“The 2nd respondent, as a data controller, has never breached its statutory duty of care, custody and protection of personal voter information and data; it owes the applicant and other voters under its secured portal and restricted database,” the commission affirmed.
On his part, Olayinka argued that the suit was filed in bad faith, describing the ₦10 billion demand as “an indication that the applicant is a gold digger who wants to reap where he did not sow.”
He told the court that the post only contained Ike’s name and photograph—details already in the public domain due to his status as a public figure and election candidate.
Olayinka explained that the publication was made after Ike allegedly led individuals to disrupt activities at the INEC office, serving merely as a reminder of his voter transfer in line with Section 19(1) of the Electoral Act 2026.
He also noted that INEC had confirmed in a press release that “there was no external breach of its CVR database, no hacking incident and no unauthorised external access to the commissions ICT infrastructure,” maintaining he could not be held liable for sharing publicly available data.
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