The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a N10 billion suit filed by Nollywood actor, Emeka Ike against Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and the Independent National Electoral Commission over the publication of his voter registration details on social media.
Ike had approached the court, alleging that the publication of his voter information on X violated his right to privacy and data protection.
He sought N10 billion in damages, alongside an order compelling the defendants to remove the information and issue an apology.
However, Justice Salim Ibrahim dismissed the suit, ruling that Ike failed to provide sufficient evidence to support his claims.
The judge also dismissed the preliminary objections raised by the defendants, who had challenged the competence of the suit and argued that it was improperly constituted.
In his response to the suit, Olayinka had maintained that the information shared online consisted only of Ike’s name and passport photograph, which he described as publicly available details.
“I did not unlawfully access the actor’s personal information, and the publication did not breach any legal duty owed to him,” Olayinka said.
Olayinka also cited Section 19(1) of the Electoral Act 2026, arguing that the law provides for the publication of voter information ahead of general elections.
INEC, in its response, said there was no evidence that its Continuous Voter Registration database had been hacked or accessed by an unauthorised external party.
“The information was neither classified nor confidential and could be made public in accordance with the law,” INEC said.
Ike had relied on Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution, Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 to support his claim that his privacy rights had been violated.
The actor had also sought the removal and retraction of the published information.
The case arose amid Ike’s political ambition to contest for a seat in the House of Representatives representing the Abuja Municipal Area Council, AMAC, and Bwari Federal Constituency in the 2027 general elections.
He had sought the Nigeria Democratic Congress ticket but lost the party’s primary election.