Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has called for a full-scale investigation into the alleged leak of information from the Independent National Electoral Commission database.
He argued that the electoral body’s latest explanation raised more questions than answers.
INEC, in a statement on Tuesday, said it had launched an investigation into allegations of unauthorised access to its Continuous Voter Registration database and the subsequent disclosure of information relating to a candidate who participated in the recent primaries of a political party in the Federal Capital Territory.
The commission said it was treating the matter with utmost seriousness and had commenced a comprehensive probe to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.
It also revealed that the Department of State Services had independently commenced an investigation into the matter.
In the statement signed by the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, INEC disclosed that preliminary findings showed there was no external breach of its voter registration database or information technology infrastructure.
According to the commission, authorised Registration Officers participating in the ongoing nationwide CVR exercise were granted controlled access to specific components of the system to carry out official duties, including registering new voters, processing transfer requests and updating voter records.
INEC said its preliminary audit trail had enabled investigators to identify the user account through which the information was accessed, adding that relevant personnel had been questioned while all units connected to the incident were cooperating with the investigation.
The commission stated that it was examining all technical, administrative and operational factors related to the matter to establish responsibility and determine whether any internal access-control protocols were violated.
It said: “Preliminary findings from the commission’s audit trail so far, however, indicate that there was no external breach of the CVR database, no hacking incident, and no unauthorised external access to the commission’s ICT infrastructure.
“Rather, the information in question was accessed through valid user credentials assigned to personnel participating in the ongoing CVR exercise but released without authority.”
INEC further clarified that the incident involved the retrieval of a specific voter record and did not suggest any compromise of the wider voter registration infrastructure or the personal information of more than 90 million registered voters.
Reaffirming its commitment to data protection, INEC said: “The commission wishes to state categorically that it takes the security, confidentiality and integrity of voter data with the utmost seriousness and remains committed to transparency, institutional integrity, and the protection of voters’ personal information.”
According to INEC, “the DSS, on its own accord, has commenced an independent investigation into the matter.
“The commission will continue to cooperate fully with all relevant security agencies and will not hesitate to refer any person found culpable for appropriate legal action.”
The electoral body urged members of the public and the media to avoid speculation while investigations continued, assuring that its final findings and any actions taken would be made public in due course.
Reacting, Atiku argued that the electoral body’s latest explanation raised more questions than answers.
He said INEC’s admission that voter information was accessed using valid official credentials and subsequently released without authorisation had shifted the controversy from speculation about external hacking to concerns over internal compromise and possible political interference.
In a statement issued on Tuesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the former vice president said the commission must explain how information stored in a restricted electoral database ended up in the public domain.
It read, “INEC’s statement has moved this issue beyond conjecture. The commission has now confirmed that voter information was accessed through credentials assigned to personnel participating in the ongoing CVR exercise and that such information was released without authority.
“What Nigerians want to know is simple: how did information that resides within a restricted electoral database find its way into the hands of political actors and their associates?” Atiku argued that the absence of an external cyberattack did not lessen the seriousness of the incident.
“The fact that there was no external hack does not diminish the gravity of the incident. If anything, it raises even more troubling questions about internal controls, institutional safeguards, and the possibility of political interference,” he said.
The former vice president drew attention to the role played by Olayinka, who publicly released the information that triggered the controversy.
“What makes this entire episode impossible to ignore is that the information in question did not emerge from a whistleblower, an investigative journalist, or an anti-corruption agency. It was publicly released by Mr Lere Olayinka, spokesman to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike,” Atiku stated.
Atiku also linked the controversy to recent comments made by Wike regarding the 2027 presidential election.
According to him, the issue assumed greater significance because the FCT minister recently predicted with certainty that he would fail to secure up to 10 per cent of votes in Rivers State during the next presidential election.
It added, “Only days before this controversy erupted, Minister Wike publicly declared with remarkable certainty that Atiku Abubakar would not secure up to 10 per cent of the votes in Rivers State in the 2027 presidential election.
“The question, therefore, arises: what was the basis of such extraordinary confidence? Was it merely political chest-thumping, or does it reveal a mindset that believes certain political actors possess privileged access to institutions that are constitutionally required to remain neutral?”
Atiku warned that the incident goes beyond the unauthorised disclosure of a voter record and touches on public confidence in the neutrality of Nigeria’s electoral institutions.
“This is why the issue can no longer be reduced to the unauthorised disclosure of a single voter record. It has become a test of whether Nigeria’s electoral institutions are truly insulated from political influence or whether politically connected individuals enjoy access and advantages unavailable to ordinary citizens,” he said.
He called on INEC to disclose the complete chain of custody of the leaked information, including those who accessed, authorised, received and distributed the data.
Welcoming the DSS probe, Atiku said Nigerians would expect a thorough and impartial investigation.
“The Nigerian people will expect that investigation to be thorough, impartial, and fearless. No individual, regardless of political influence or proximity to power, should be beyond scrutiny,” he said.
INEC’s statement and Atiku’s fears are premised on the reaction that followed Nollywood actor Emeka Ike’s threat to pursue legal action against Lere Olayinka, media aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, over the alleged disclosure of his personal data from the INEC portal.
Ike, an indigene of Imo State, contested the AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency House of Representatives seat in the Federal Capital Territory on the platform of the Nigerian Democratic Congress but was unsuccessful.
Olayinka recently drew criticism after posting what appeared to be Ike’s voter registration details obtained from an INEC administrative webpage.
In a post on his X handle on Saturday, Olayinka claimed that Ike had transferred his voter registration from Imo State to the FCT.
The post included screenshots containing personal information such as Ike’s application number, registration centre, Voter Identification Number, profile photograph, name and date of application, prompting concerns that the details were sourced from INEC’s administrative portal.
Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Tuesday, Ike described the disclosure as shocking and “the height of political rascality,” insisting that his privacy had been violated.