A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the N10bn fundamental rights suit filed by Nollywood actor Emeka Ike against Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Justice Salim Ibrahim delivered judgment on Wednesday and upheld the preliminary objections filed by the respondents. The judge ruled that the suit was incompetent and improperly constituted and also dismissed the substantive suit for lack of proof.

Ike had accused Olayinka of violating his fundamental right to privacy by publishing his voter registration details on his X handle in May. He said the publication exposed confidential information including the transfer of his voter registration from Imo State to the Federal Capital Territory.

The actor who aspired to contest the AMAC Bwari Federal Constituency seat in the House of Representatives in the 2027 general elections on the platform of the Nigerian Democratic Congress lost the party primary election.

In the suit marked FHC ABJ CS 1272 2026 filed through his lawyer L T Adeh, Ike asked the court to declare that publishing his voter details without consent amounts to gross breach of his right to privacy and protection of personal data under Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution, Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Sections 24 and 39 of the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.

He also sought a declaration that INEC owes registered voters a statutory duty of care to protect their personal information against unauthorised access and claimed that an INEC statement issued on June 2 amounted to admission of liability.

Ike sought N10bn in aggravated and general damages jointly and severally against Olayinka and INEC, plus an order for retraction of the post and a written apology.

Responding, Olayinka argued that the document contained only name and passport photograph which were already in public domain and that he did not unlawfully access any database. He cited Section 19 1 of the Electoral Act which provides for publication of voter information.

INEC said the information was not classified or confidential and denied any external breach of its Continuous Voter Registration database.

The court dismissed the suit and warned against filing frivolous suits that waste the time of the court.