The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has provided clarity on how Lere Olayinka, the spokesperson for the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, obtained and subsequently published screenshots containing the voter registration details of Nollywood actor Emeka Ike.
Speaking in a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday, INEC spokesperson Mohammed Haruna stated that an investigation by the commission and the police revealed that the screenshots were shared with Mr Olayinka by an electoral officer in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).
Mr Haruna explained that security operatives initially questioned four individuals, including three INEC officials and the daughter of one of the officials. The operatives also seized the mobile phones of one INEC official and her daughter.
According to Mr Haruna, the INEC official accessed Mr Ike’s details on the voter register and shared them with the AMAC electoral officer. The official reportedly used her daughter’s phone to capture the screenshot.
The INEC spokesperson confirmed that the police have detained the AMAC electoral officer who shared the screenshot with Mr Olayinka. The electoral officer remains under investigation, while the other individuals have been released but are required to report back to investigators regularly.
Mr Haruna described the electoral officer’s actions as “overzealousness,” noting that investigations showed the official had not previously met Mr Olayinka in person.
“The EO was taken by the police – by the chief security officer of our chairman – to the police SARS office for interrogation,” he said. “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. They were there yesterday, and they were there again, and they are supposed to be there today, around one o’clock.”
The police also invited and questioned Mr Olayinka. The FCT media aide did not answer or return calls from this newspaper, nor did he respond to a message requesting comment.
Background
Mr Olayinka had posted screenshots showing personal voter details of Nollywood actor Emeka Ike. The screenshots raised concerns because they were obtained from an administrative backend of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) system, which is accessible only to authorized INEC officials.
According to the INEC spokesperson, the commission’s officials at its FCT office checked Mr Ike’s details on the CVR after he led protesters to the office on Friday, alleging that some officials of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) were at the INEC FCT office. Mr Ike is an aspirant seeking to represent AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives under the NDC.
In criticizing Mr Ike, Mr Olayinka made a post featuring screenshots from the voter register, revealing that Mr Ike had only transferred his polling unit to the FCT about two weeks prior.
The controversy drew public attention after social media users identified the screenshot as originating from INEC’s CVR administrative portal, prompting concerns about the security of voter data and the possibility of unauthorized access to the commission’s systems.
Database Not Hacked – INEC
However, the electoral commission has allayed fears that its systems have been compromised or accessed by anyone outside the commission. INEC maintained that the incident involved the misuse of authorized access by officials rather than an external breach of its systems.
