The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has confirmed that confidential voter information relating to Nollywood actor Emeka Ike, a House of Representatives aspirant of the National Democratic Coalition, NDC, was accessed using valid staff credentials and subsequently released without authorization.
INEC disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday by the National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Kudu Haruna.
The development followed allegations of unauthorized access to the Commission’s Continuous Voter Registration, CVR, database involving Lere Olayinka, media aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike.
The controversy erupted after voter registration details belonging to Ike surfaced online shortly after he announced plans to contest a House of Representatives seat in the FCT.
The records, shared by Olayinka, were alleged to have originated from INEC’s restricted administrative portal.
The Commission said it immediately commenced an investigation after reports emerged on social media and in sections of the media alleging that information on a candidate had been obtained from its database and made public.
According to INEC, preliminary findings showed that there was no external breach of its CVR database, no hacking incident and no unauthorized access to its ICT infrastructure.
Rather, the Commission said the information was accessed through valid user credentials assigned to personnel involved in the ongoing nationwide CVR exercise.
“The information in question was accessed through valid user credentials assigned to personnel participating in the ongoing CVR exercise but released without authority,” the statement said.
INEC explained that registration officers participating in the CVR exercise were granted controlled access to specific components of the system to enable them register new voters, process transfer requests and update voter records where necessary.
The Commission said an audit trail from its preliminary investigation enabled it to identify the user account through which the information was accessed.
It added that relevant personnel had been questioned while all units connected to the incident were cooperating with the investigation.
INEC said it was examining the technical, administrative and operational circumstances surrounding the incident to establish responsibility and determine whether any internal access-control protocols were breached.
Meanwhile, INEC disclosed that the Department of State Services, DSS, has commenced an independent investigation into the matter.
