Court adjourns Emeka Ike’s N10bn suit against INEC, Wike’s aide
Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.
At a glance
- A Federal High Court in Abuja adjourned actor Emeka Ike's N10 billion suit against INEC and a Wike aide.
- The suit alleges unlawful disclosure of Ike's voter registration details.
- The court adjourned to allow INEC to appear and for Ike's lawyer to file a response.
A Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned the N10 billion fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by Nollywood actor Emeka Ike. The suit targets the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Lere Olayinka, a media aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike. The adjournment was granted until July 22 for further mention.
Ike's legal action stems from allegations that his personal voter registration details were unlawfully disclosed on Olayinka's official X (formerly Twitter) account. Screenshots showing the transfer of his voter registration from Imo State to the Federal Capital Territory surfaced on social media. Ike contends that Olayinka published this information without his consent, allegedly accessing it from a restricted INEC administrative portal.
the evidence tendered to the court by the plaintiff as ‘inadmissible’
In his suit, the actor is seeking N10 billion in damages for the alleged breach of his right to privacy. He also seeks orders to remove the social media post and compel a public apology. INEC, however, has stated that the incident did not result from a cyberattack on its database but from the misuse of authorized internal access credentials.
During the hearing, the plaintiff's counsel informed the court that INEC had been served its response, but the electoral body was absent. Counsel for the first respondent, Akpama Ekwe, did not oppose the adjournment but expressed readiness to proceed. Justice S.O. Ibrahim granted the adjournment to ensure fair hearing and give INEC an opportunity to participate, ordering that INEC be served with hearing notices and all relevant processes.
his client had not breached any law or committed any offense, adding that INEC had issued a statement to the effect that the
Originally published by The Punch. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.