INEC Data Leak Sparks Row

*Emeka Ike threatens action against Wike’s aide, Olayinka

*Says it’s height of political rascality

*DSS joins probe; INEC traces leak to insider

*Leak puts 2027 election credibility on trial — Atiku

Nollywood actor, Mr Emeka Ike, has said he is prepared to take action against Lere Olayinka, media aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nyesom Wike, over alleged exposure of his personal data from the portal of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

Ike, an indigene of Imo State, contested the primaries for the AMAC/Bwari federal constituency, Abuja, ticket on the platform of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, and lost.

Olayinka last week came under criticism after sharing what appeared to be Ike’s voter information via an INEC administrative webpage.

On his X handle on Saturday, Olayinka wrote: “Emeka Ike was a registered voter in Imo State. He only transferred his INEC Registration to the FCT on May 15, 2026 (15 days ago).

“And he wants to contest for House of Reps in Abuja! Someone who has never voted in the FCT o. What happened to his Imo State? This Obidient people enh!!!”

Olayinka attached two images to the post, which many users said contained details obtained from INEC’s administrative login portal.

Some of the personal information in the screenshots included Ike’s application number, registration centre, Voter Identification Number, profile picture, name, and date of application.

Height of political rascality

Speaking on a Channels Television’s programme, yesterday morning, Ike described Olayinka’s action as shocking.

He said: “It’s quite shocking, extreme, and it is the height of political rascality for a government officer to access a citizen’s information from the INEC cyber. It tells you a lot; it shows how much impunity we have flying around, and people have access to things they shouldn’t be having access to, and that’s quite deplorable. I see that as a huge insult and slap on every political party and every Nigerian.

“He is telling every Nigerian that whoever you are, I can pull your information from anywhere and I can do what I want, and that rascality needs to be stopped.”

The actor said he was ready to challenge Olayinka over the alleged exposure of his private details.

“Actions are ready, I’m ready to take him on. He has no right to exploit my privacy and insult Nigerians the way he did. If he has been doing it in the past, this should be the last time he does it.”

Speaking further, Ike explained his decision to contest the House of Representatives seat in the FCT.

He said: “I actually wanted to run in my state, but a couple of people came to me. It was like a clarion call. People came to me and told me, ‘Sir, you need to do this now, we need you in Abuja.’

“And I’m like, you know I’m already trying to run in my state, but they insisted and the surge was high, and I considered it, seeing the relevant issues they brought on board, and I said okay fine, let’s see how we can build Abuja. A municipal area needs to be properly guarded and looked into, so I decided to shift to Abuja.”

DSS joins probe, as INEC traces voter data leak to insider

Meanwhile, the INEC, yesterday, disclosed that one of its staff with legitimate access to its Continuous Voter Registration, CVR, database is now at the centre of an investigation in the unauthorized disclosure of Ike’s voter record.

In a statement by National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, the electoral commission said the Department of State Services, DSS, is also now running a parallel probe into the breach.

Preliminary findings

The commission’s internal audit trail pointed squarely inward. Haruna stated: “Preliminary findings from the commission’s audit trail so far indicate that there was no external breach of the CVR database, no hacking incident, and no unauthorised external access to the Commission’s ICT infrastructure.