The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has suspended an electoral officer allegedly linked to the leak of voter registration data belonging to Nollywood actor and politician, Emeka Ike.
INEC disclosed on Thursday that investigations by security agencies and data protection regulators are still ongoing.
The National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, made the disclosure during a fireside chat organised by the Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA) in Abuja.
The controversy began after Emeka Ike’s voter registration details appeared online during a dispute connected to a political party primary election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
According to INEC, preliminary investigations showed that there was no external breach of its Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure and no compromise of the voter register.
The commission stated that the data was allegedly accessed using valid login credentials assigned to officials involved in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise and was later disclosed without authorisation.
INEC said its audit trail helped investigators trace the specific user account used to access the voter record, leading to the identification and questioning of personnel who had access to the system.
The commission added that investigations into the incident are continuing.
