Emeka Ike: INEC admits Lere Olayinka access its database through authorised channel

Ebun Emmanuel – June 02, 2026

The Independent National Electoral Commission says it has identified the user account through which Lere Olayinka, the media aide to the Federal Capital Territory Minister gained an unauthorised access to its Continuous Voter Registration database.

Recall that Lere recently exposed Nollywood actor, Emela Ike, who transferred from Imo State to FCT to contest for a federal legislative seat.

Ike, a native of Imo State, contested the House of Representatives seat for the AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency in the Federal Capital Territory under the Nigerian Democratic Congress and lost.

However, in a statement issued on Tuesday, the National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, said the commission was treating the matter with utmost seriousness.

“The audit trail from the preliminary investigation has enabled the Commission to identify the user account through which the information was accessed. Accordingly, relevant personnel have been questioned, and all units connected with the incident are cooperating fully with the investigation,” it said.

INEC explained that as part of the ongoing nationwide CVR exercise, authorised registration officers were granted controlled access to specific components of the registration system to enable them to carry out voter registration, transfer requests and updates to voter records.

According to the commission, such access is strictly limited to official duties and is withdrawn once the exercise concludes.

Haruna disclosed that preliminary findings from the commission’s audit trail had helped identify the user account through which the information was accessed.

“Relevant personnel have been questioned, and all units connected with the incident are cooperating fully with the investigation,” he said.

INEC added that its preliminary findings showed there was no external breach of its systems.

“Preliminary findings from the Commission’s audit trail so far indicate that there was no external breach of the CVR database, no hacking incident, and no unauthorised external access to the Commission’s ICT infrastructure.

“Rather, the information in question was accessed through valid user credentials assigned to personnel participating in the ongoing CVR exercise but released without authority,” the statement added.

The commission stressed that the incident involved the retrieval of a specific voter record and did not suggest any compromise of the wider voter registration system or the personal information of more than 90 million registered voters.

The commission also revealed that the Department of State Services had independently commenced an investigation into the matter.