Court dismisses Emeka Ike’s N10bn damages suit against Wike’s aide and INEC

Justice Salim Ibrahim of the Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the N10 billion rights suit filed by actor Emeka Ike against Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In a ruling delivered this morning, Justice Ibrahim upheld the preliminary objections of the respondents on the grounds that the suit was incompetent and improperly constituted.

Justice Ibrahim also dismissed the main suit on the ground of lack of proof.

Emeka Ike, who aspired to vie for the House of Representatives’ seat for AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency, Abuja, for the 2027 general elections on the platform of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC), 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 for a declaration that Olayinka’s decision to publish his database on X without his approval “amounts to gross breach and violation of the applicant’s fundamental right to privacy and the protection of personal data”.

The actor prayed the court to award him N10 billion against Olayinka and INEC as aggravated and general damages, to be paid jointly and severally for violating his fundamental right to privacy.

In a separate counter-affidavit, INEC and Olayinka prayed the court to dismiss the suit in its entirety. The electoral body in its response, said the issue complained about in the suit filed by Ike was neither classified, sensitive nor confidential information.

On his part, Olayinka, said the information he published on X was already in the public domain and was not accessed through any unlawful means.

Olayinka stated that he did not owe the actor any duty of care and confidentiality and did not require his consent to publish his name and passport photograph that was already in the public domain.