The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has confirmed that a staff member with authorized access to its Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) database is under investigation following the unauthorized leak of Nollywood actor Emeka Ike’s personal voter records.
According to a statement released by Mohammed Haruna, National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, the Department of State Services (DSS) has also stepped in to launch a parallel investigation into the data breach.
This development comes amid reports that Ike is threatening legal action against Lere Olayinka, a media aide to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, for allegedly publishing his confidential voter details online.
Ike, an Imo State native, recently ran an unsuccessful bid for the AMAC/Bwari federal constituency ticket under the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
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.
“Rather, the information in question was accessed through valid user credentials assigned to personnel participating in the ongoing CVR exercise but released without authority.”
“Registration officers conducting the nationwide CVR exercise had been granted controlled access to specific components of the database for the limited purposes of registering new applicants, processing transfer requests, and updating voter records — access the commission described as strictly restricted to official duties and withdrawable at the close of the exercise.”
INEC said the audit trail had enabled investigators to pinpoint the specific user account through which the record was retrieved.
Relevant personnel had since been questioned, and all units connected with the incident were cooperating with the investigation, said Haruna.
The commission added that it was examining every technical, administrative, and operational angle of the matter to establish individual responsibility and determine whether internal access-control protocols had been violated.
On the reach of the breach, the commission said only a single voter record had been accessed, and the personal data of over 90 million registered voters remained secure.
The integrity of the broader voter registration infrastructure, it said, was not in question.
The DSS, INEC disclosed, had launched its own independent investigation without prompting from the commission.
INEC said it would cooperate fully with the agency and all other relevant security bodies, and warned that anyone found culpable would be referred for prosecution.
It urged the public and the media to set aside speculation while investigations continue, and pledged to publish its final findings and measures taken in response to the incident once they were concluded.
Meanwhile, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned that the unauthorised disclosure of voter information from the INEC CVR database threatens the credibility of the 2027 general election.
In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, yesterday, Atiku said the incident exposed the vulnerability of Nigeria’s electoral institutions to political manipulation ahead of the polls.
He noted that while INEC maintained there was no external hacking of its system, the Commission admitted that voter information was accessed through valid official credentials and released without authorisation.
“INEC has now confirmed that voter information was accessed through credentials assigned to personnel involved in the ongoing CVR exercise and released without authority. That admission alone should concern every Nigerian,” he said.
According to Atiku, the absence of an external breach does not diminish the gravity of the incident but raises questions about internal controls, institutional safeguards and possible political interference.
He expressed concern that the information was publicly released by Lere Olayinka, spokesman to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, shortly after the minister predicted he would not secure up to 10 per cent of votes in Rivers State in the 2027 presidential election.
Atiku demanded full disclosure of the chain of custody of the accessed information and urged transparency in ongoing investigations.
While welcoming INEC’s identification of the user account involved and the Department of State Services’ investigation, he stressed that Nigerians would expect accountability to safeguard confidence in the electoral process.
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.
Speaking on a Channels TV 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.”
He explained: “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.”
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