Court adjourns Emeka Ike N10bn Privacy Suit against INEC and Wike’s aide to July 22 over alleged voter data breach and privacy violations
A Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned until July 22 the N10 billion fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by Nollywood actor Emeka Ike against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Lere Olayinka, media aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, over the alleged unlawful disclosure of his voter registration details.
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Justice S.O. Ibrahim fixed the new date after counsel to the actor, L.T. Adeh, informed the court that although the first respondent had filed its response, the second respondent, INEC, was absent despite being served with hearing notices.
Adeh urged the court to grant a short adjournment to allow the electoral commission to appear and participate in the proceedings.
Counsel to the first respondent, Akpama Ekwe, did not oppose the application but maintained that he was ready to proceed with the matter.
Justice Ibrahim, however, ruled that the interest of fair hearing required giving INEC another opportunity to appear before the court.
Although Ekwe argued that INEC could not be compelled to attend the proceedings and requested that the matter be fixed for hearing, the judge insisted on a brief adjournment.
The court subsequently adjourned the case until July 22, 2026, for further mention and directed that INEC be served with the hearing notice alongside all court processes before the next sitting.
The dispute arose after screenshots allegedly showing the transfer of Ike’s voter registration from Imo State to the Federal Capital Territory surfaced on social media.
The actor alleged that the information was published on Olayinka’s verified X account without his consent after being accessed through a restricted INEC administrative portal.
Ike is asking the court to award N10 billion in damages for the alleged violation of his constitutional right to privacy. He is also seeking an order compelling the removal of the social media post and a public apology from the defendants.
INEC has consistently denied that its database was compromised, insisting that the incident did not result from a cyberattack.
Instead, the commission said preliminary findings indicated that the information was accessed through the misuse of authorised internal credentials rather than a breach of its servers.
Speaking with journalists after Thursday’s proceedings, Ekwe dismissed the claims against his client, arguing that the documents relied upon by the plaintiff were inadmissible and contained no sensitive personal information.
“There is no case against my client. What my client published, apart from being in the public domain, does not contain any personal information.
The only thing that document contained is the name of Emeka Ike and the transfer number.
The second document contained his passport photograph and his name.
“So you will agree with me that there was no personal data that was published as is alleged. So there is actually no case against my client,” he said.
Adeh, however, expressed confidence in his client’s case, arguing that the lawsuit raises broader concerns about the protection of voters’ personal information.
He suggested that if one individual’s records could allegedly be accessed, other Nigerians’ data might also be vulnerable.
“I think this is going to be a very interesting case, and we hope that the court will do justice,” Adeh said.
The case has attracted attention amid growing concerns over digital privacy and data protection in Nigeria, particularly following recent debates on the security of public databases.
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The outcome could help define the legal responsibilities of public institutions and officials regarding the handling and disclosure of citizens’ personal information.
