The Federal High Court, Abuja Division, on Wednesday dismissed a N10 billion rights suit filed by Nollywood actor Emeka Ike against Lere Olayinka, FCT minister Nyesom Wike’s spokesperson, and the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Justice Salim Ibrahim, in a judgement, upheld the preliminary objections of the respondents on the grounds that the suit was incompetent and improperly constituted. Mr Ibrahim also dismissed the main suit for lack of proof.
Mr Ike, who aspired to vie for the House of Representatives seat for AMAC/Bwari federal constituency, Abuja, in the 2027 elections on the platform of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), lost the bid in a primary poll.
Mr Olayinka mocked Mr Ike by allegedly leaking his confidential voter registration details on social media. The post was said to have shown details of Mr Ike’s voter registration transfer from Imo to the nation’s capital.
Mr Ike, in the suit filed by L.T. Adeh, sued Mr Olayinka and INEC as first and second respondents in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1272/2026. He asked the court to declare that Mr Olayinka’s decision to publish his database on X without his approval “amounts to gross breach and violation of the applicant’s fundamental right to privacy and the protection of personal data”.
Mr Ike argued that 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, guaranteed his right to privacy and protection of personal data.
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 against Mr Olayinka and INEC as aggravated and general damages, to be paid 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 Mr Olayinka, amounted to a tacit admission of guilt and liability to him.
Mr Ike, equally, sought an order directing Mr Olayinka to immediately retract and pull down the offensive post and publication on his social media X handle, @OlayinkaLere, containing screenshots of his personal voter information and private data.
He sought an order directing him to immediately tender an unreserved written apology for the breach and violation of his fundamental right.
But in separate counter-affidavits, INEC and Mr Olayinka asked the court to dismiss the suit in its entirety. INEC, in its response, said the issue complained about in the suit filed by Ike was neither classified, sensitive, nor confidential information.
INEC said that such information was displayed and published in accordance with the Electoral Act, 2026. It stressed that the electoral body has the “statutory and constitutional power to make available information of its voters to the general public without the consent of any registered voter”.
It said its statutory responsibility includes compiling, maintaining, displaying, publishing, certifying, and managing the register of voters in accordance with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the Electoral Act 2026, and the National Data Protection Act 2023. INEC said what was alleged to be posted by Mr Olayinka did not emanate from it.
In his counter affidavit, Mr Olayinka deposed that the reliefs Mr Ike sought were in bad faith.
He said the only information contained in the document he published was Mr Ike’s name and passport photograph, and that the information was already in the public domain.
He said contrary to Mr Ike’s averment, the information he published was not only in the public domain but was not accessed through any unlawful means.
Mr Olayinka stated that he did not owe the actor any duty of care or confidentiality and did not require his consent to publish his name and passport photograph, which were already in the public domain.
He said Mr Ike, who brought himself to contest election to the lower house, could not be traumatised by the circulation of his name and passport photograph.
(NAN)
