INEC Suspends Staff Linked to Emeka Ike’s Voter Data Leak

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced that it has suspended an electoral officer who is alleged to have been involved in the leak of voter data related to Nollywood actor and politician Emeka Ike.

The Commission stated on Thursday that investigations by security agencies and data protection regulators are still underway.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, made the announcement during a fireside chat organized by the Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA) in Abuja.

The suspension follows a controversy that erupted after Emeka Ike’s voter registration details appeared online during a dispute connected to a political party primary election in the Federal Capital Territory.

INEC said preliminary findings indicated that there was no external breach of its ICT infrastructure or compromise of its voter register.

According to the Commission, the data was accessed using valid credentials assigned to officials involved in the ongoing CVR exercise and was then disclosed without authorization.

INEC added that its audit trail allowed investigators to identify the specific user account that accessed the voter record, leading to the questioning of personnel with system access.