A Federal High Court in Abuja today adjourned 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, until July 22 for further mention.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1272/2026, came up before Justice S.O. Ibrahim on Thursday.
Key Highlights:
- Court adjourned Emeka Ike’s N10bn suit to July 22.
- The case is against INEC and Lere Olayinka.
- Ike alleges unlawful disclosure of his voter details.
- INEC was absent from Thursday’s proceedings.
- Olayinka denied any wrongdoing.
- Ike seeks damages, an apology and removal of the post.
Counsel to the plaintiff, L.T. Adeh, informed the court that the first respondent, Lere Olayinka, had filed and served his response to the suit.
Adeh also told the court that hearing notices had been served on both respondents but noted that INEC, the second respondent, was absent. He therefore sought an adjournment to enable the electoral body to appear before the court.
Counsel to the first respondent, Akpama Ekwe, did not oppose the application but said he was ready to proceed with the matter.
Adeh further informed the court that he intended to file a response to the first respondent’s counter-affidavit between Thursday and Friday.
Justice Ibrahim granted the request for a short adjournment, stating that it was necessary in the interest of fair hearing and to give INEC an opportunity to participate in the proceedings.
Although Ekwe urged the court to fix the matter for hearing, arguing that INEC could not be compelled to appear, the judge maintained that the brief adjournment was appropriate.
The court subsequently adjourned the case until July 22 for further mention and directed that INEC be served with the hearing notice and all court processes before the next sitting.
The suit arose from allegations that Ike’s personal voter registration details were unlawfully disclosed on Olayinka’s verified X account after screenshots showing the transfer of the actor’s voter registration from Imo State to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) circulated on social media.
The actor alleged that the information was published without his consent after it was accessed through a restricted INEC administrative portal.
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In the suit, Ike is seeking N10 billion in damages for the alleged violation of his constitutional right to privacy. He is also asking the court to order the removal of the social media post and compel the defendants to issue a public apology.
INEC has maintained that the incident did not result from a cyberattack on its database but was caused by the misuse of authorised internal access credentials.
Speaking with journalists after the proceedings, Ekwe argued that the evidence presented by the plaintiff was inadmissible and insisted that his client had committed no offence.
“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 details contained in the document were Emeka Ike’s name and the transfer number. The second document contained only his passport photograph and name.
“So, there was no personal data published as alleged. There is actually no case against my client,” he said.
Adeh, however, maintained that INEC had no defence to the suit, suggesting that the commission’s repeated absence from proceedings reflected the weakness of its position.
He expressed confidence that the case would establish an important legal precedent for protecting the privacy of voters’ data.
“It is possible that whoever gained access to this information may also have accessed the records of other Nigerians. This case is not only about Emeka Ike; it is about ensuring that this kind of breach does not happen again.
“We believe this case will become an important precedent, and we are confident that the court will do justice,” Adeh said.
