Proceedings in the N10 billion fundamental rights suit filed by Nollywood actor, Emeka Ike against the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC and Lere Olayinka have been postponed by the Federal High Court in Abuja until July 22.
The case, came before Justice S.O. Ibrahim on Thursday.
During proceedings , counsel for the claimant, informed the court that the first respondent had filed and served a response to the originating processes.
Adeh further told the court that hearing notices had been delivered to both respondents but noted that INEC, listed as the second respondent, was not represented in court.
He therefore requested an adjournment to allow the electoral commission an opportunity to appear.
Counsel for the first respondent, Akpama Ekwe, did not oppose the request for adjournment, although he indicated readiness to proceed with the hearing.
The claimant’s counsel also disclosed plans to file a reply to the counter-affidavit submitted by the first respondent between Thursday and Friday.
In his ruling, Justice Ibrahim granted a brief adjournment, stating that fairness required giving INEC a chance to participate in the proceedings.
Although Ekwe urged the court to proceed with substantive hearing, arguing that INEC could not be forced to attend, the judge insisted that a short delay was necessary to preserve fair hearing.
The matter was then adjourned to July 22 for further mention, as the court directed that INEC be served with fresh hearing notices along with all relevant court processes before the next date.
The dispute arose after allegations surfaced that Ike’s voter registration records were exposed without authorisation on Olayinka’s verified X account.
The controversy followed the circulation of screenshots allegedly showing the transfer of the actor’s voter registration from Imo State to the Federal Capital Territory.
Ike alleges that the information was published without his approval and claims it was obtained through unauthorised access to a restricted INEC administrative platform.
In the suit, the actor is demanding N10 billion in damages over the alleged violation of his privacy rights. He is also asking the court to compel the removal of the disputed social media post and order a public apology.
INEC, however, has maintained that its database was not hacked, insisting that the incident resulted from improper use of valid internal access credentials rather than any breach of its servers.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
