The Federal High Court in Abuja has moved the hearing for a N10 billion rights lawsuit initiated by actor Emeka Ike against Lere Olayinka, an aide to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, to July 22. Justice Salim Ibrahim granted the postponement to ensure the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has sufficient time to appear in the proceedings.
During the session, the plaintiff’s lawyer, L.T. Adeh, noted that although Olayinka had submitted his defense, the second respondent, INEC, was absent. Despite Olayinka’s legal counsel, Akpama Ekwe, expressing readiness to proceed, Justice Ibrahim emphasized that a brief delay was necessary for a balanced trial.
The dispute originated from a social media post in May where Olayinka allegedly shared private voter registration details belonging to Ike. These documents purportedly contained information extracted from a restricted INEC database, leading to accusations that the aide breached sensitive personal data. While INEC denied an external hack of its system, it acknowledged that the disclosure stemmed from the improper use of internal access credentials. Police investigators have since questioned both Olayinka and an electoral officer regarding the incident.
In his petition, Ike contends that the unauthorized public exposure of his information constitutes a severe violation of his right to privacy under the 1999 Constitution and the Nigeria Data Protection Act of 2023. He is demanding N10 billion in damages from both Olayinka and INEC. Furthermore, the actor is seeking a court order that would compel Olayinka to delete the post, issue a formal written apology, and publish that apology across three major national newspapers for a period of two weeks.
