The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has suspended an electoral officer allegedly linked to the unauthorised disclosure of voter registration details belonging to Nollywood actor and politician, Emeka Ike.
The commission announced the suspension on Thursday, stating that investigations by security agencies and data protection regulators are ongoing.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, disclosed this 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 surfaced online amid a dispute related to a political party primary election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
According to INEC, preliminary findings indicate that its ICT infrastructure was not hacked and the national voter register was not compromised.
Instead, the commission said the data was accessed through valid login credentials assigned to officials participating in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise and was later disclosed without authorisation.
INEC said its audit trail enabled investigators to trace the access to a specific user account, leading to the identification and questioning of personnel with authorised access to the system.
The commission reiterated its commitment to safeguarding voters' personal information and said investigations into the incident are continuing.
