Court adjourns Emeka Ike’s N10bn suit against INEC and Wike’s aide Lere Olayinka

The Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned until July 22 further proceedings in a N10 billion fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by Nollywood actor Emeka Ike against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Lere Olayinka, media aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.

Justice S.O. Ibrahim fixed the new date after the matter came up for mention on Thursday, July 2. During the proceedings, counsel to the plaintiff, L.T. Adeh, informed the court that the first respondent had filed and served its response to the suit. He also stated that hearing notices had been served on both respondents but noted that INEC, the second respondent, was not represented in court. Adeh consequently sought an adjournment to enable the electoral commission to appear.

Counsel for the first respondent, Akpama Ekwe, did not oppose the request but told the court he was ready to proceed with the matter. Adeh also informed the court that he intended to file a response to the first respondent’s counter-affidavit before the next sitting.

Justice Ibrahim said a short adjournment was necessary in the interest of fair hearing and to afford INEC the opportunity to participate in the proceedings. Although Ekwe urged the court to fix the matter for hearing, arguing that INEC could not be compelled to appear, the judge maintained that the adjournment would ensure all parties had the opportunity to be heard.

The court subsequently adjourned the case until July 22 for further mention and directed that INEC be served with the hearing notice and all processes filed in the suit before the next hearing. The suit arose after screenshots showing the transfer of Ike’s voter registration from Imo State to the Federal Capital Territory were circulated on social media.

The actor alleges that Olayinka unlawfully published his voter registration details on his official X account without his consent after the information was allegedly obtained from a restricted INEC administrative portal. Ike is seeking N10 billion in damages for the alleged violation of his constitutional right to privacy, as well as an order directing the removal of the social media post and a public apology.

INEC has maintained that the incident did not result from a cyberattack on its database but from the misuse of authorised internal access credentials. Speaking after the court session, Ekwe argued that the documents relied upon by the plaintiff were inadmissible and maintained that his client had committed no wrongdoing.

He said the information published was already in the public domain and did not contain personal data beyond Ike’s name, transfer number and passport photograph. “There is no case against my client. What my client published, apart from being in the public domain, does not contain any personal information,” Ekwe said. Adeh, however, insisted that INEC had no valid defence to the claims, expressing confidence that the case could establish an important legal precedent for the protection of voters’ personal data.

He added that the alleged unauthorised access to Ike’s records raised concerns that other voters’ information could also have been compromised and said the court’s decision would be significant for safeguarding electoral data in Nigeria.