A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a N10 billion lawsuit filed by Nollywood actor and political aspirant Emeka Ike against Lere Olayinka, an aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, and the Independent National Electoral Commission. The court held that the case was improperly constituted and failed to meet the requirements for the fundamental rights procedure used.
Ike alleged that Olayinka violated his privacy by publishing information about him on the social media platform X without permission. He sought declarations and compensation from Olayinka and INEC in a suit filed in June 2026.
Justice Salim Ibrahim upheld the respondents’ preliminary objections, finding that the dispute was essentially a data protection complaint and that the contentious issues should not have been initiated by originating summons. The judge also stated that the applicant had not provided sufficient evidence to establish the alleged violation, even if the court were to consider the substantive claims.
Olayinka argued that the material consisted of a name and photograph already publicly available. INEC maintained that it was authorized to manage and publish specified voter register information under electoral law and denied that the disputed social media material came from its systems. The ruling, as described in the supplied account, dismissed this particular action; it should not be read as a blanket determination that all voter data may be shared without restriction.
