The case of Nollywood actor Emeka Ike against Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been thrown out by Justice Salim Ibrahim of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
In a ruling delivered this morning, Justice Ibrahim upheld the respondents’ preliminary objections, holding that the suit was incompetent and improperly constituted.
Justice Ibrahim also dismissed the main suit for lack of proof.
Emeka Ike, who aspired to vie for the House of Representatives seat for AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency, Abuja, in the 2027 general elections on the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) platform, lost the bid in a primary poll.
Olayinka, through a post on X in May, was alleged to have mocked Ike by leaking his confidential voter registration details on social media, an action Ike found to be an infringement on his right and approached the court for relief.
In his court papers, Ike asked the court to declare that Olayinka’s decision to publish his database on X without his approval was a serious breach of his fundamental right to privacy and the protection of personal data.
The actor also asked the court to order Olayinka and INEC to pay him N10 billion in aggravated and general damages, payable together or separately, for violating his right to privacy.
In a separate counter-affidavit, INEC and Olayinka asked the court to dismiss the suit completely. INEC said in its response that the information Ike complained about was not classified, sensitive, or confidential.
Olayinka said the information he posted on X was already public and that he did not obtain it through any illegal means.
Olayinka also said he owed the actor no duty of care or confidentiality and did not need his consent to publish his name and passport photo because they were already public.