Federal High Court Adjourns Emeka Ike’s N10 Billion Privacy Rights Suit Against Lere Olayinka and INEC
The Federal High Court, Abuja has adjourned to July 2, 2026, the hearing of a N10 billion fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by Nollywood actor and politician Emeka Ike against Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Justice Salim Ibrahim fixed the date after Ike’s counsel, Leonard Adeh, sought adjournment to allow the respondents time to file their defence.
The Nollywood actor, who was an aspirant for the House of Representatives’ seat for AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency, Abuja for the 2027 general elections on the platform of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), alleges that Olayinka unlawfully published screenshots of his voter registration transfer from Imo State to Abuja on social media platform X.
The screenshots were said to have originated from INEC’s restricted backend portal, sparking outrage and raising concerns about unauthorised access to voter data.
INEC denied any external hacking, attributing the disclosure to misuse of valid internal credentials.
The Force Intelligence Department (FID-IRT) has since invited Olayinka and an electoral officer for questioning over the alleged leak.
Reliefs Sought by Emeka Ike’s claims are grounded in Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution, Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Sections 24 & 39 of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023. He seeks that Olayinka’s publication amounts to a gross violation of his fundamental right to privacy and data protection.
The actor asked the court to declare that INEC owes him and other voters a “statutory duty of care” to protect their private data against unauthorised access.
The applicant, therefore, prayed the court to award him N10 billion in aggravated and general damages against Olayinka and INEC, jointly and severally for violating his fundamental right to privacy.
He sought a declaration that the press release by INEC dated June 2, in reaction to the viral publication and circulation of his personal voter information and private data on social media by Olayinka, amounts to a tacit admission of guilt and liability to him.
Ike, equally, sought an order compelling Olayinka to delete the offensive post and issue a written apology on his X handle, @OlayinkaLere.
