Police arresting officer, assistant to Wike in quiz on illegal access to INEC database – THIS UPDATE

From Victor, Abuja

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has intensified its crackdown on alleged illegal access and unauthorized disclosure of sensitive voter data belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Police have arrested an election official and questioned Lere Olayinka, media aide to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Nyesom Wike, over the controversy surrounding leaked voter information.

Senior security sources said officers from the Force Intelligence Department – ​​Intelligence Response Team (FID-IRT) are investigating allegations bordering on cyber breaches, unauthorized access to databases, misuse of classified platforms and unlawful disclosure of classified national documents.

As part of the ongoing investigation, an INEC official, whose identity was not disclosed, was arrested at the FID-IRT facility in Abuja, while Olayinka was questioned at the Police Headquarters in the Federal Capital Territory on Tuesday.

Sources familiar with the matter revealed that the investigation followed a formal complaint reportedly lodged on behalf of INEC, alleging criminal conspiracy, cyber intimidation and illegal disclosure of confidential election documents.

The controversy arose from social media posts made by Olayinka in which he shared screenshots purportedly showing details of the transfer of voter registration of Nollywood actor and politician, Emeka Ike, from Imo State to the Federal Capital Territory.

Olayinka reportedly made the information while questioning Ike’s fitness to contest a House of Representatives seat in the FCT following the actor’s criticism of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) primary process.

The publication sparked widespread reactions on social media, with many Nigerians saying the screenshots appeared to come from a password-protected backend platform accessible only to authorized INEC staff, raising concerns about the security of voter data and the possible misuse of internal access privileges.

INEC on Tuesday denied reports that its Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) database had been hacked or externally compromised.

According to the commission, rather than a cyber attack, preliminary findings indicated a misuse of legitimate internal access credentials assigned to authorized personnel.

The electoral body also said that audit trail results had allowed investigators to identify the user account through which the information had been accessed, insisting that the incident involved a specific user action and did not indicate a compromise of its wider database infrastructure.

According to sources close to the investigation, the detained INEC official initiated contact with Olayinka via Facebook Messenger before forwarding voter registration materials to him via WhatsApp.

Investigators were reportedly informed that the official attempted to provide Olayinka with information to demonstrate that Emeka Ike had only recently initiated a voter transfer process and that the request had not yet received final approval from the electoral commission.

During his interrogation, Olayinka reportedly told investigators that he had no prior relationship with the election official and had no knowledge of the individual prior to their communication.

The sources further said that the FCT assistant minister maintained that he was unaware that the materials shared with him were classified documents, insisting that the INEC official did not indicate that the information was confidential or privileged.

Police authorities are said to be examining possible legal action against those involved, including charges relating to criminal conspiracy, computer crime, unlawful disclosure of confidential information and conduct capable of causing a breach of the peace.

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