The Nigeria Police Force has commenced investigation into the alleged unauthorised access and circulation of voter information from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) database, leading to the detention of an electoral official and the interrogation of a media aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
Senior police sources confirmed that operatives of the Force Intelligence Department–Intelligence Response Team (FID-IRT) are probing allegations of criminal conspiracy, cyber-related offences and unlawful disclosure of classified electoral data.
As part of the investigation, an INEC electoral officer whose identity has not been disclosed has been taken into custody, while Lere Olayinka, media aide to the FCT Minister, was questioned at the Police Headquarters in Abuja.
The development followed the circulation of screenshots on social media showing details of a voter registration transfer involving Nollywood actor and politician, Emeka Ike, sparking public concern over possible breaches of INEC’s restricted database.
Responding to the controversy, INEC denied claims of a cyberattack on its Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) platform, stating that the incident stemmed from the misuse of legitimate internal access credentials by an authorised official.
Investigations reportedly indicate that the detained electoral officer initiated contact with Olayinka via Facebook Messenger before forwarding voter registration documents through WhatsApp.
During interrogation, Olayinka was said to have told investigators he had no prior relationship with the official and was unaware that the documents shared were classified.
The Department of State Services (DSS) has also opened a parallel investigation into the matter as security agencies consider possible charges against those involved.
