The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed July 2, 2026, for further hearing in a N10 billion fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by Nollywood actor and politician, Emeka Ike, against the Senior Special Assistant to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, Mr Lere Olayinka.
Justice Salim Ibrahim fixed the date on Thursday after counsel to the applicant, Leonard Adeh, requested an adjournment to allow the respondents time to file their responses.
Ike, who instituted the suit over an alleged breach of his personal data and privacy rights, named Olayinka and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the first and second respondents respectively.
When the matter came up for mention, only the applicant’s counsel was present in court.
Adeh informed the court that the respondents had only been served with the court processes the previous day.
“However, I want to bring to the notice of the court that the bailiff told me that parties (respondents) were only served yesterday.
“My lord, I want to know the nature of service effected, particularly on the first defendant,” he said.
When Justice Ibrahim asked why the issue was being raised, the lawyer explained that the applicant wanted to avoid any future jurisdictional complications.
“We don’t want to have a jurisdictional issue, my lord,” Adeh stated.
The judge subsequently directed a court official to provide the applicant’s counsel with a copy of the proof of service contained in the court’s records.
After reviewing the document, Adeh expressed satisfaction with the service process.
“My lord, I am satisfied, sir,” he said.
The lawyer then informed the court that both respondents were still within the period allowed by law to file their defence and sought an adjournment.
Justice Ibrahim granted the request and adjourned the matter until July 2 for further mention.
The court also directed that hearing notices be issued and served on the respondents.
The dispute arose from a post allegedly made by Olayinka on the social media platform X in May, where he was accused of publishing confidential voter registration information belonging to Ike.
The actor, who had contested the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) primary election for the AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency House of Representatives ticket ahead of the 2027 general elections, lost the party’s nomination.
According to the suit, Olayinka allegedly published screenshots showing details of Ike’s voter registration transfer from Imo State to the Federal Capital Territory and used the information to question his eligibility to contest the election.
The publication generated widespread reactions on social media, with several Nigerians alleging that the information may have been obtained from INEC’s restricted voter registration database.
Following the controversy, INEC denied claims that its Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) database had been externally hacked or compromised.
The commission maintained that the disclosure resulted from the misuse of valid internal credentials by authorised personnel.
The incident also attracted the attention of investigators from the Force Intelligence Department Intelligence Response Team (FID-IRT), who reportedly invited Olayinka and an electoral officer for questioning over the alleged leak of voter data.
In the suit filed on his behalf, Ike asked the court to declare that Olayinka’s publication of his voter registration details without his consent amounted to a gross violation of his constitutional right to privacy and protection of personal data.
The actor relied on Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution, Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Sections 24 and 39 of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023.
He further argued that INEC owed him and all registered voters a statutory duty of care to protect their personal information from unauthorised access and disclosure.
Among the reliefs sought, Ike asked the court to declare that the publication constituted a breach of his fundamental rights and that INEC’s press release of June 2, issued in response to the controversy, amounted to a tacit admission of liability.
He also wants the court to hold Olayinka and INEC jointly liable for the alleged breach and violation of his privacy rights.
The applicant is seeking N10 billion in aggravated and general damages against the respondents, to be paid jointly and severally.
In addition, Ike asked the court to compel Olayinka to immediately delete the publication from his X account, @OlayinkaLere, and issue an unreserved written apology for the alleged violation of his rights.
The matter is expected to come up again on July 2 for further proceedings.
