The Nigeria Police Force has arrested an unnamed electoral officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) assigned to the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) and questioned Lere Olayinka, the Senior Special Assistant on Social Media to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, over the unauthorised release of the voter registration records of Nollywood actor and politician Emeka Ike. Detectives of the Force Intelligence Department–Intelligence Response Team (FID-IRT) are investigating allegations of criminal conspiracy, cyber intimidation, the leaking of classified documents, and conduct likely to breach public peace, following a petition filed on behalf of INEC by a top security aide to the commission’s chairman, police sources told Reporters on Wednesday, 3 June 2026.
The investigation was triggered by Olayinka’s social media post on X (formerly Twitter) on 30 May 2026, in which he shared screenshots showing details of Ike’s voter registration transfer from Imo State to the FCT, which had been initiated on 15 May but was yet to be approved. In the post, Olayinka questioned the actor’s eligibility to contest a House of Representatives seat in Abuja for the AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency following his participation in the primaries of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC). Social media users immediately noted that the images appeared to have been sourced from INEC’s restricted administrative portal (cvradmin.inecnigeria.org), a password-protected backend system accessible only to authorised commission personnel. The post sparked widespread outrage, with many Nigerians accusing Olayinka of gaining unauthorised access to the commission’s database.
According to security sources who spoke to The Punch, the leak occurred on 29 May 2026, when a group of political actors led by Emeka Ike staged a protest at the INEC AMAC office, blocking the exit gate with vehicles and alleging irregularities in an ongoing primary election. “Following the hostility, the AMAC Electoral Officer discovered through administrative channels that one of the primary actors leading the aggressive protest, identified as Emeka Ike, a popular Nollywood actor, had only recently initiated a voters’ registration transfer from Imo State, an application that had not even been officially approved by the commission,” a police source told The Punch. Angered by the blockade of his office, the electoral officer, instead of following official protocols, instructed a subordinate staff member to capture a screenshot of the applicant’s confidential data directly from the INEC Voter Enrolment Device. The electoral officer then contacted Olayinka on Facebook Messenger, and the two men continued their conversation on WhatsApp, where the classified voter registration document was sent to Wike’s aide.
During his interrogation at the Police Headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, 3 June, Olayinka reportedly told investigators that he had no prior relationship with the electoral officer and was unaware that the documents shared with him were classified. He admitted that he had posted videos of the political protest at the AMAC office on his social media pages, and that the electoral officer contacted him via Facebook Messenger to vent his anger that INEC was being “blackmailed” by protesters who were not even validly registered voters in the FCT. Olayinka explained that the electoral officer promised to send proof of the temporary voter’s card, which was subsequently shared on WhatsApp. According to sources, Olayinka maintained that the electoral officer did not indicate that the information was confidential or restricted. As of Friday, 30 May, Olayinka had still not deleted the original post.
The electoral officer, whose identity has not been disclosed by the police, has been taken into custody and is being held at the FID-IRT facility in the FCT. Meanwhile, INEC has dismissed claims of a major breach or external hacking of its continuous voter registration (CVR) database. In a press statement issued on Tuesday, the commission said its preliminary audit found no external intrusion into the system, which holds data on over 90 million registered voters. “Preliminary findings from the Commission’s audit trail so far indicate that there was no external breach of the CVR database, no hacking incident, and no unauthorised external access to the Commission’s ICT infrastructure,” the statement read. INEC confirmed that the leaked information on one specific voter record stemmed from controlled access granted to CVR officials for processing registrations, transfers, and updates, and that the incident involved the retrieval of a specific voter record and did not suggest any compromise of its broader voter registration infrastructure.
In a separate statement issued on Wednesday, 4 June, INEC said: “We have had the Electoral Officer for the Abuja Municipal Area Council in our custody since yesterday. Also, Lere Olayinka, the Senior Special Assistant on Social Media to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, was invited and questioned over the Emeka Ike matter. A top security aide to the INEC chairman petitioned the police over allegations of criminal conspiracy, cyber intimidation, the leaking of classified documents, and conduct likely to breach public peace, all of which are connected to the Emeka Ike case.” The Department of State Services (DSS) has also launched a parallel investigation into the circumstances surrounding the disclosure of the voter information, according to Premium Times.
Emeka Ike has threatened to take legal action against Lere Olayinka, describing the act as “political rascality” in an interview on Channels Television’s Morning Brief. The actor, who had announced his intention to contest a House of Representatives seat in the FCT under the NDC, said: “He is telling every Nigerian that whoever you are, I can pull your information from anywhere and I can do what I want. Actions are ready, I’m ready to take him on.” Police authorities are reportedly considering charges against both the electoral officer and Olayinka, including criminal conspiracy, cyber-related offences, unlawful disclosure of classified information, and actions capable of causing a breach of public peace.
As of Thursday, 4 June 2026, no official charges had been filed, and both the police and DSS investigations were ongoing. The case has intensified the national debate over data privacy, the security of INEC’s voter registration database, and the extent to which political actors may exploit access to electoral information. For Emeka Ike, the controversy has overshadowed his political aspirations; for the electoral officer and the FCT minister’s media aide, the unauthorised disclosure of a single voter record has now escalated into a criminal investigation that could have far‑reaching legal consequences.
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