The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that the screenshots containing the voter registration details of Nollywood actor and politician, Emeka Ike, were obtained and circulated through an electoral officer in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), rather than through any external compromise of the commission’s systems.
INEC spokesperson, Mohammed Haruna, disclosed this on Thursday, according to Premium Times in its report stating thaton investigations conducted jointly by the commission and the police established that the screenshots were passed to Lere Olayinka by an AMAC electoral officer.
Haruna explained that security operatives initially questioned four individuals, including three INEC officials and the daughter of one of the officials.
Authorities also confiscated the mobile phones belonging to an INEC staff member and her daughter as part of the investigation.
Findings showed that one of the INEC officials accessed Ike’s voter information from the electoral register and forwarded it to the AMAC electoral officer. The official reportedly used her daughter’s phone to capture the screenshots before they were shared.
The INEC spokesperson confirmed that the police have detained the electoral officer who transmitted the screenshots to Olayinka. While the officer remains under investigation, the other individuals involved have been released but directed to continue reporting to investigators.
Haruna described the officer’s conduct as an act of “overzealousness,” stressing that investigations indicated there was no prior relationship between the officer and Olayinka.
“The EO was taken by the police — by the chief security officer of our chairman — to the police SARS office for interrogation,” Haruna said.
“He’s still with them. He has given his own side of the story, and it tallied with what the minister’s aide confirmed, that they don’t even know each other. But the others have been released and asked to continue reporting to the police.”
The police also invited and questioned Olayinka over the matter. However, efforts by Premium Times to obtain his comments were unsuccessful, as he neither answered calls nor responded to messages seeking his reaction.
The controversy erupted after Olayinka published screenshots showing details from Ike’s voter registration record. The images were later identified by social media users as originating from the administrative backend of INEC’s Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) system, a platform accessible only to authorised election officials.
INEC said its officials in the Federal Capital Territory office had reviewed Ike’s voter information after the actor led a protest to the commission’s office, alleging that members of the Nigeria Democratic Congress were present at the facility.
Ike is seeking to represent the AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives under the NDC platform.
In a post criticising the actor, Olayinka shared screenshots indicating that Ike had transferred his voter registration to the FCT only weeks earlier, triggering public concerns over the security of personal voter data and the possibility of unauthorised access to INEC records.
However, INEC has dismissed fears of a cyber breach, insisting that its systems were not hacked or compromised. The commission maintained that the incident resulted from the misuse of authorised access by its personnel and not from any external intrusion into its voter registration database.
Source: Premium Times.
