Popular actor and politician, Emeka Ike, has threatened legal action following the circulation of his personal voter information allegedly obtained from the Independent National Electoral Commission portal.
The controversy has sparked renewed debate over data privacy, political conduct, and access to sensitive electoral records in Nigeria.
Politics Nigeria reports that the issue began after Lere Olayinka, media aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, shared details on his X account claiming that Emeka Ike was previously registered as a voter in Imo State before transferring his registration to the FCT on May 15.
.. was accompanied by screenshots believed to have been extracted from an administrative section of the INEC system.
The leaked information reportedly included Ike’s voter registration details such as his application number, polling centre, voter identification number, passport photograph, name, and registration date.
The publication quickly drew backlash online, with many Nigerians questioning how such sensitive data could be accessed and publicly displayed.
Reacting during an interview on Channels Television’s “The Morning Brief,” Emeka Ike condemned the publication, describing it as a serious breach of privacy and an abuse of power. He said:
“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.
The former governorship aspirant also confirmed that he is considering legal steps over what he described as an unlawful exposure of his private records. He maintained that no individual, regardless of political position, has the right to access or publish such information without authorization.
“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. If he has been doing it in the past, this should be the last time he does it.”
Explaining his political ambition, Ike said his decision to contest for the House of Representatives seat for AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency under the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) was influenced by public demand and calls from supporters who believed he could contribute to governance in the FCT.
“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.
However, the Independent National Electoral Commission, Independent National Electoral Commission, has yet to issue an official statement on the alleged breach at the time of filing this report.
