By Our Reporter
The investigation into the alleged unlawful access and disclosure of actor-turned-politician Emeka Ike’s voter registration records took a new turn on Wednesday as police reportedly arrested an Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) staff member believed to be linked to the retrieval of the information from the Commission’s Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) database. Sources familiar with the probe said the official is assisting investigators seeking to determine how the records were accessed and subsequently released to unauthorized persons. The development follows separate investigations earlier launched by INEC and security agencies into the controversial publication of Ike’s voter details.
Also, the media aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Lere Olayinka, was reportedly interrogated by police investigators over his role in publishing the information on social media.
Investigations, reportedly revealed that the detained electoral officer allegedly initiated contact with Olayinka through Facebook Messenger before forwarding voter registration documents to him via WhatsApp.
Olayinka reportedly told investigators that he had no prior relationship with the INEC official allegedly involved in the matter, and claimed that he did not know the information was classified.
The controversy erupted after screenshots containing Emeka Ike’s voter registration history surfaced online, triggering widespread concerns over data privacy and the security of INEC’s records. While the electoral body has maintained that there was no external hacking of its systems, preliminary findings reportedly indicate that the information was accessed through valid user credentials assigned to personnel participating in the ongoing voter registration exercise. Investigators are now expected to determine whether criminal laws, data protection regulations, or internal administrative rules were violated, while Emeka Ike has continued to press for legal action against those responsible for the alleged breach.