Police Question Wike’s Media Aide, Detain INEC Official Over Voter Data Leak

THE Police have reportedly Lere Olayinka, media aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, over the alleged leak of voter data from the portal of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Investigators from the Force Intelligence Department, Intelligence Response Team (FID-IRT), were said to have quizzed Olayinka on Tuesday, June 2, at the Police Headquarters in the FCT as part of the probe into “cyber infractions, unauthorised database misuse and leaking of classified national documents,” a source privy to the investigation informed TheCable.
A yet-to-be-identified electoral officer has also been detained at the FID-IRT facility in the FCT over the matter.
It was gathered that the investigation was prompted by a formal complaint filed on behalf of INEC, alleging criminal conspiracy, cyber intimidation and leak of classified documents.
Recall that Olayinka had last week shared screenshot details of voter registration transfer of Nollywood actor, Emeka Ike, from Imo State to FCT, while questioning the actor-turned-politician’s eligibility to contest a House of Representatives seat in the FCT, following the latter’s recent protest over the primaries of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
Olayinka’s post sparked outrage, with many Nigerians accusing him of gaining unauthorised access to a password-protected backend system meant only for INEC officials.
The electoral body, in a statement on Tuesday, however, dismissed claims of a major breach or external hacking of its continuous voter registration (CVR) database, attributing the disclosure of Ike’s voter information to the “misuse” of valid internal credentials by authorised personnel.
TheCable gathered that the electoral officer initiated contact with Olayinka to provide him with “evidence” to prove that Ike had only recently initiated a voter registration transfer, but also that it was yet to be approved.
The INEC official was said to have engaged Olayinka on Facebook Messenger, after which he shared the “classified voter registration document” via WhatsApp.
During interrogation, Olayinka reportedly said he had no previous relationship with or knowledge of the electoral officer, explaining that he was not aware that the documents were classified, and that the INEC official did not inform him that it was privileged information.
Apart from the Police investigation, Olayinka is also being probed by the Department of State Services (DSS) over the matter.
TheCable reported the Police as considering charging Olayinka and the electoral officer with criminal conspiracy, cyber infractions, sharing of classified documents and breach of peace.