A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has postponed proceedings in the N10 billion fundamental rights enforcement suit instituted 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 July 22 for further mention of the case after hearing submissions from parties during Thursday’s proceedings.
When the matter, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1272/2026, was called, counsel to the plaintiff, L.T. Adeh, informed the court that the first respondent had filed and served its response to the originating process.
Adeh also told the court that hearing notices had been served on both respondents but pointed out that the second respondent, INEC, was absent from the proceedings.
He consequently requested a short adjournment to allow the electoral commission the opportunity to appear before the court.
Counsel representing the first respondent, Akpama Ekwe, did not oppose the application for adjournment but informed the court that he was prepared to proceed with the hearing.
Adeh further disclosed that he intended to file a response to the counter-affidavit submitted by the first respondent between Thursday and Friday.
In his ruling, Justice Ibrahim said fairness required granting a brief adjournment to enable INEC to participate in the proceedings.
Although Ekwe urged the court to proceed with hearing the matter, arguing that INEC could not be compelled to attend, the judge maintained that the adjournment was necessary to give the commission another opportunity to appear.
The court subsequently adjourned the matter until July 22 for further mention.
Justice Ibrahim also directed that INEC be served with a fresh hearing notice together with every process filed in the suit before the next court date.
The legal dispute arose after screenshots allegedly showing the transfer of Emeka Ike’s voter registration from Imo State to the Federal Capital Territory surfaced on social media.
According to the actor, the information was published on the official X account of Lere Olayinka without his authorisation after it was allegedly accessed through a restricted INEC administrative portal.
Ike argues that the disclosure amounted to a violation of his constitutional right to privacy.
In the suit, he is seeking N10 billion in damages for the alleged breach, alongside an order directing the removal of the disputed social media post and a public apology from the defendants.
INEC has denied any breach of its database, insisting that the incident did not result from a cyberattack but from the alleged misuse of authorised internal access credentials.
Addressing journalists after the court session, counsel to the first respondent, Akpama Ekwe, argued that the documents relied upon by the plaintiff were inadmissible in evidence.
He also maintained that his client committed no wrongdoing and pointed to INEC’s official position that its servers had not been compromised.
“There is no case against my client. What my client published, apart from being in the public domain, does not contain any (personal) information. The only thing that document contained is the name of Emeka Ike and the transfer number. The second document contained his passport photograph and his name.
“So you will agree with me that there was no personal data that was published as is alleged. So there is actually no case against my client,” he said.
Reacting after the hearing, Adeh expressed confidence in his client’s case, insisting that INEC had no credible defence.
He alleged that the commission had repeatedly failed to fully participate in the proceedings because of the weakness of its position.
The lawyer also said the case could establish an important legal precedent that would strengthen the protection of Nigerians’ voter information against unauthorised disclosure.
According to him, the incident may not be isolated and could have implications for the security of other citizens’ personal data.
“It is very possible that whoever accessed this thing must have also been able to access other records. So it is not just Emeka Ike. But we want to use Emeka Ike’s issue and also ensure that this kind of thing is put in check. I think this is going to be a very interesting case, and we hope that the court will do justice,” he stated.
