The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has acknowledged that private voter data of Nollywood actor Emeka Ike, a House of Representatives aspirant for the National Democratic Coalition (NDC), was accessed with legitimate staff credentials and leaked without permission.
In a statement on Tuesday, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Kudu Haruna, confirmed the incident. The controversy began after voter registration details for Ike appeared online soon after he declared his candidacy for an FCT House of Representatives seat. The information was shared by Lere Olayinka, media aide to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, and was alleged to have come from INEC’s restricted administrative portal.
INEC stated that its initial inquiry found no external breach, hacking, or unauthorized access to its ICT systems. Instead, the data was retrieved using valid user credentials belonging to staff involved in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise. “The information in question was accessed through valid user credentials assigned to personnel participating in the ongoing CVR exercise but released without authority,” the statement read.
Registration officers in the CVR exercise have restricted access to specific system components to register new voters, handle transfers, and update records. An audit trail from the investigation identified the user account that accessed the information, and relevant staff have been questioned. All units connected to the incident are cooperating with the inquiry.
INEC is reviewing the technical, administrative, and operational circumstances to assign responsibility and determine if internal access-control protocols were violated. Meanwhile, the Department of State Services (DSS) has launched an independent investigation into the matter.