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The Nigeria Police Force has arrested an official of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and questioned Lere Olayinka, media aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, over the alleged unauthorised disclosure of voter information from the commission’s database.
Senior police sources said on Wednesday that operatives of the Force Intelligence Department-Intelligence Response Team (FID-IRT) are investigating allegations of database misuse, cyber-related offences and the unlawful release of sensitive INEC documents.
As part of the investigation, an INEC electoral officer, whose identity was not disclosed, has been taken into custody. Olayinka was interrogated on Tuesday at the Force Headquarters in Abuja.
The probe followed a petition reportedly submitted on behalf of INEC alleging criminal conspiracy, cyber intimidation and the unlawful disclosure of classified electoral records.
The controversy began after Olayinka posted screenshots on social media purportedly showing details of a voter registration transfer involving Nollywood actor and politician Emeka Ike from Imo State to the Federal Capital Territory.
The post emerged amid questions over Ike’s eligibility to contest a House of Representatives seat in the FCT following his criticism of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) primary process.
Critics had questioned how the information was obtained, claiming it could only have come from INEC’s restricted voter registration database.
Reacting to the incident on Tuesday, INEC denied reports that its Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) database had been hacked or breached.
The commission said the disclosure resulted from the misuse of legitimate internal access credentials by an authorised official.
Investigators reportedly discovered that the detained INEC officer initiated contact with Olayinka through Facebook Messenger before sending voter registration documents to him via WhatsApp.
The documents allegedly showed that Ike’s voter transfer request had recently been initiated but had not received final approval.
During questioning, Olayinka reportedly told investigators that he had no prior relationship with the INEC official and did not know the documents were classified.
According to sources, he insisted that the officer never informed him that the information was confidential or restricted.
The Department of State Services (DSS) has also commenced a separate investigation into the matter.
Police authorities are said to be considering possible charges against both the INEC official and Olayinka, including criminal conspiracy, cyber-related offences, unlawful disclosure of classified information and acts capable of causing a breach of public peace.
