ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Actor and politician Emeka Ike has threatened to drag Lere Olayinka, media aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, to court over the alleged publication of his personal voter registration details obtained from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The controversy erupted after Olayinka shared information reportedly extracted from an INEC administrative portal.
The screenshots, which surfaced on X on May 30, allegedly contained Ike’s voter identification number, registration centre, profile photograph, application details and registration history.
Speaking during an appearance on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Tuesday, Ike described the incident as disturbing and accused the government official of abusing access to sensitive information belonging to a private citizen.
According to him, the disclosure raises serious concerns about how personal data is handled and protected in the country.
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“It’s quite shocking, extreme and it is the height of political rascality for government officer to access a citizen’s information from the INEC cyber. It tells you a lot, shows how much impunity we have flying around there and people have access to the things they shouldn’t be having access to and that’s quite deplorable and I see that as a huge insult and slap on every political party and every Nigerian.
“He is telling every Nigerian that whoever you are, I can pull your information from anywhere and I can do what I want and that rascality needs to be stopped,” he said.
Ike said he had already set legal processes in motion and was determined to challenge what he described as an unlawful invasion of his privacy.
“Actions are ready. I’m ready to take him on. He has no right to exploit my privacy and insult Nigerians the way he did,” he stated.
The actor maintained that such conduct must not be allowed to continue unchecked.
“If he has been doing it in the past, this should be the last time he does it,” he added.
Ike also used the interview to explain why he chose to contest for a seat in the House of Representatives in the Federal Capital Territory instead of seeking elective office in his home state.
The former candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) for the AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency said persistent appeals from residents of Abuja influenced his decision to enter the race in the nation’s capital.
“I actually wanted to run in my state but a couple of people came to me, it was like a clarion call. People came to me and told me, ‘sir, you need to do this now, we need you in Abuja’.
“And I’m like you know I’m already trying to run in my state, but they insisted and the surge was high and I considered it seeing the relevant issues they brought on board and I said okay fine let’s see how we can build Abuja. A municipal area needs to be properly guarded and looked into, so I decided to shift to Abuja,” Ike said.