A Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned until July 22, 2026, a N10 billion fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by Nollywood actor Emeka Ike against Lere Olayinka, media aide to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Court Proceedings and INEC's Absence
The case, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1272/2026, came before Justice S.O. Ibrahim on Wednesday. The plaintiff's counsel, L.T. Adeh, informed the court that while hearing notices had been served on both respondents and the first respondent had filed a response, INEC was absent from proceedings. Adeh requested an adjournment to allow the electoral commission to appear.
Justice Ibrahim granted the short adjournment in the interest of fair hearing, directing that INEC be served with the hearing notice and all processes filed in the suit before the next adjourned date. Counsel for the first respondent, Akpama Ekwe, did not oppose the application but stated he was ready to proceed immediately, according to Vanguard.
Background to the Voter Data Dispute
The lawsuit arose after screenshots showing the transfer of Ike's voter registration from Imo State to the Federal Capital Territory circulated on social media. The actor contends that Olayinka published the information on his official X handle without consent, allegedly after it was extracted from a restricted INEC administrative portal. Ike is seeking N10 billion in damages for the alleged violation of his right to privacy, along with orders compelling the removal of the post and a public apology.
INEC has maintained that the incident did not stem from a cyberattack but from the misuse of authorised internal access credentials.
Lawyers Trade Arguments Outside Court
Speaking to journalists after the hearing, Ekwe dismissed the plaintiff's case, describing the evidence presented as inadmissible and arguing that his client published nothing that constituted personal data, as reported by Punch. "There is no case against my client. What my client published, apart from being in the public domain, does not contain any (personal) information. The only thing that document contained is the name of Emeka Ike and the transfer number. The second document contained his passport photograph and his name. So you will agree with me that there was no personal data that was published as is alleged. So there is actually no case against my client," he said.
Adeh, however, expressed confidence in the strength of the claim, saying INEC's repeated absence from proceedings indicated it had no defence. He framed the case as potentially precedent-setting for the protection of voters' data nationwide. "It is very possible that whoever accessed this thing must have also been able to access other records. So it is not just Emeka Ike. But we want to use Emeka Ike's issue and also ensure that this kind of thing is put in check. I think this is going to be a very interesting case, and we hope that the court will do justice," Adeh stated.
The matter returns before Justice Ibrahim on July 22 for further mention.
