Nigeria's INEC explains how minister's aide accessed actor's voter details

Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has detailed how sensitive voter registration information belonging to Nollywood actor Emeka Ike was accessed and subsequently published by Lere Olayinka, spokesperson for the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.

According to INEC spokesperson Mohammed Haruna, an investigation involving the commission and the police revealed that an electoral officer in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) shared screenshots of Ike's voter details with Olayinka. The electoral officer reportedly accessed Ike's information on the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) system's administrative backend, a portal accessible only to authorized INEC officials. The screenshots were allegedly taken using the daughter's phone.

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The EO was taken by the police –by the chief security officer of our chairman- to the police SARS office for interrogation.

Security operatives initially questioned four individuals, including three INEC officials and the daughter of one official. While the INEC official and her daughter have been detained, the other individuals have been released pending further investigation. The police have detained the AMAC electoral officer who shared the information with Olayinka.

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He’s still with them… he has given his own side of the story, and it tallied with what the minister’s aide (Mr Olayinka) confirmed that they don’t even know each other. But the others have been released, but they have been asked to come to report back to the police.

Haruna described the electoral officer's actions as "overzealousness," noting that investigations indicate the officer and Olayinka had never met in person. The officer is currently being interrogated by the police, providing their account of the events. Olayinka himself has not responded to requests for comment from the press.

The incident occurred after Ike led protesters to the INEC FCT office, alleging that officials from the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) were present. Ike is an aspirant seeking to represent the AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives under the NDC. Olayinka's post, which included the leaked voter details, was made in criticism of Ike.

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overzealousness