Nigerian journalist and Arise TV’s pundit, Reuben Abati, has called for the probe of Lere Olayinka, the spokesperson of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, over alleged leak of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) database.
Olayinka had on Sunday posted the bio data of Nollywood actor and House of Representatives aspirant, Emeka Ike, as captured in INEC’s database considered to be unauthorised to the public.
The FCT Minister’s aide shared the information post on his X handle to prove his claim that Emeka was a register voter in Imo state.
He alleged that the actor had in a bid to contest for the House of Representatives seat in Abuja transferred his INEC’s registration to the FCT on the 15th of May 2026.
This had sparked outrage and call for the prosecution of Olayinka over the disclosure of Emeka’s database.
It also raised concern over confidentiality in INEC’s ability to conduct a free and fair election in 2027 with a breached database.
Reacting to the development on Arise TV’s Good Morning show on Monday, Abati maintained that people’s concern over the leaked database is valid.
The journalist held that the INEC’s database is supposed to be restricted and confidential with the portal only accessible to officials of the commission who has the password.
“I think all the people who have expressed concerns, their concerns are valid as expressed.
“We were told that this is a restricted portal opened only to INEC officials and passworded. If you don’t have password, you cannot get there.
“In other words, it is not a public website like the IReV portal where you can go and check details about what is loaded by INEC.
“If this is a restricted, confidential backend, then it means the secret database of INEC is open to unauthorised persons.” He said.
Abati questioned how Olayinka gained access to the portal as he demanded investigation into the breach.
“Lere Olayinka is not an INEC official to the best of our knowledge. We do not think that being a PA to FCT Minister gives him the authority to go in and out of INEC’s secret database. For that reason, I think those who ae calling for an investigation are very right.
“And we ought to know the outcome of that investigation. And if that secret database of INEC is now open, it should be open to all of us.
“If they want to make it public, they can make it public. Otherwise, it will be a breach also of privacy of persons involved and it will be an offence under the Cybercrime Act.
“People cannot gain privileged access to what supposed to be a backend of INEC. We call for investigation; we call for clarification; and Lere Olayinka himself you should explain how he came about it.” He added.