The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a N10 billion fundamental rights suit filed by Nollywood actor Emeka Ike against Lere Olayinka, senior special assistant to Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the publication of his voter registration details on social media.
Justice Salim Ibrahim, in a judgment delivered on Wednesday, upheld the respondents’ preliminary objections, ruling that the suit was incompetent and improperly constituted. The court also dismissed the substantive suit for lack of proof.
Ike had accused Olayinka of violating his right to privacy and data protection by publishing details of his voter registration transfer from Imo State to Abuja on his X account in May.
The actor sought to contest the 2027 House of Representatives election for the Abuja Municipal Area Council/Bwari Federal Constituency on the platform of the Nigeria Democratic Congress but lost the party’s primary election.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1272/2026, filed through his lawyer, L. T. Adeh, Ike asked the court to declare that publishing his voter information without his consent violated 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.
He also asked the court to declare that INEC had a statutory duty to protect voters’ personal data against unauthorised access and disclosure.
Ike sought N10 billion in general and aggravated damages against the respondents, jointly and severally. He also asked the court to order Olayinka to remove the post from his X account, retract the publication and issue a written apology.
He argued that an INEC press release issued on June 2 in response to the publication amounted to an admission of liability.
Both respondents urged the court to dismiss the suit.
INEC, in a counter-affidavit deposed to by Anthonia Makwe, an assistant director and data protection officer in its Legal Drafting and Clearance Department, argued that the information in question was neither classified nor confidential.
The commission said the publication of voter information was part of its statutory responsibilities under the Constitution, the Electoral Act, 2026, and the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023.
It also denied that the information published by Olayinka originated from its systems, maintaining that it had not breached its duty to protect voters’ information held in its secured portal and restricted database.
Olayinka, in his counter-affidavit, said the document he published contained only Ike’s name and passport photograph, which he claimed were already in the public domain.
He denied obtaining the information unlawfully and argued that he owed Ike no duty of confidentiality that required his consent before publishing the material.
Olayinka also argued that Ike had made his identity and photograph public by seeking political office and working as a Nollywood actor.
He said the publication was intended to draw attention to Ike’s voter registration transfer and the relevant provisions of the Electoral Act.
According to Olayinka, the publication followed an incident in which Ike allegedly led a group of people to INEC’s office and disrupted its activities after declaring his intention to contest the election.
He also cited INEC’s June 2 statement, which he said confirmed that there had been no external breach of the commission’s continuous voter registration database, hacking incident or unauthorised external access to its information technology infrastructure.
Olayinka maintained that he was not a data controller under the Nigeria Data Protection Act and had no obligation to safeguard information already available to the public. He described Ike’s N10 billion claim as being made in bad faith and urged the court to dismiss the suit.
The court dismissed the suit after upholding the respondents’ preliminary objections and finding that the substantive claims had not been proved.