INEC suspends officer over Emeka Ike voter data leak

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has suspended an electoral officer allegedly involved in the unauthorised disclosure of Emeka Ike, actor-turned-politician voter registration details.

Mohammed Haruna, INEC national commissioner and chairman of the information and voter education committee disclosed the development during a stakeholders’ engagement in Abuja, saying the officer had been relieved of his duties pending the outcome of ongoing investigations.

According to Haruna, preliminary findings showed that there was no external breach of INEC’s ICT infrastructure. Instead, the voter data was allegedly accessed using valid credentials assigned to officials participating in the Continuous Voter Registration exercise and later disclosed without authorisation.

He said the commission’s audit trail identified the specific user account used to access the record, leading to the suspension of the officer, who reportedly admitted involvement in the incident.

Haruna noted that the case had been referred to the Department of State Services, the Nigeria Police Force and relevant data protection authorities for further investigation.

INEC maintained that the incident affected only one voter record and did not compromise the personal information of more than 90 million registered voters in its database.

The commission said it had completed its internal investigation and would determine further disciplinary measures after reviewing reports from security agencies and regulators.

Haruna reaffirmed INEC’s commitment to safeguarding voter information and strengthening public confidence in the management of electoral data ahead of future elections.