INEC Moves Against Insider leak, Suspends Staff over Emeka Ike Voter Data

The Independent National Electoral Commission has suspended an electoral officer linked to the unauthorized disclosure of voter registration details belonging to Nollywood actor and politician Emeka Ike.

INEC announced the suspension on Thursday, saying investigations into the breach are ongoing. Security agencies and data protection regulators are also probing how the information was exposed and whether any laws were broken.

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

The leak surfaced after Ike’s voter registration details appeared online amid a dispute tied to a political party primary in the Federal Capital Territory. The incident sparked concerns over the safety of personal data held by the commission.

Preliminary findings show INEC’s ICT infrastructure was not hacked and the national voter register was not breached by an external attacker, according to the commission.

Instead, the voter record was allegedly accessed using valid login credentials issued to officials involved in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration exercise. The information was then disclosed without authorization.

INEC said its internal audit trail was critical to the probe. The system traced the activity to a specific user account that accessed Ike’s record, prompting the questioning of personnel with authorized system access.

The commission said the officer’s suspension is meant to ensure accountability while the investigation continues. It pledged to take appropriate action once the probe concludes and reaffirmed its commitment to safeguarding voters’ personal data.