- Safiu Kehinde
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday broke its silence over allegations that an aide to the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, Lere Olayinka gained access to its secured portal and used what is supposed to be confidential information.
NPO Reported that the commission’s database was earlier this week leaked by Olayinka who posted the bio data of Nollywood actor and House of Representatives aspirant, Emeka Ike.
The FCT Minister aide shared the profile of Emeka as captured on INEC’s portal in a bid prove his claim that the actor was originally a registered voter in Enugu State before transferring his details to Abuja ahead of the primary elections.
This had sparked outrage from members of public who called for the prosecution of Olayinka over the breach of INEC’s data base.
Also joining the call for Olayinka’s prosecution was United Kingdom-based Nigerian activist, Kayode Ogunadamisi, who called INEC over the allegation.
The Arise TV’s pundit 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.
INEC, reaction, said though the alleged breach does not constitute any major leakage as the leaked information was accessed through an official of the commission, the commission said its audit has already revealed an insider abuse which showed that an official with access to the portal made the information used by the Minister’s aide, Olayinka, available.
Mohammed Kudu Haruna, the commission’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), made this known in a statement issued on Tuesday.
The INEC National Commissioner maintained that access to the portal is restricted to official duties only.
Mohammed said that partial access was recently granted to authorised INEC Registration Officers as part of the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise nationwide.
This, according to him was to enable them register new applicants, process requests for transfer of registration and update voter records where necessary.
However, preliminary investigation unveiled compromise through one of the registration officers who sent the leaked information to Olayinka.
“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.” He said.
Mohammed however noted that the incident under investigation relates to the retrieval of a specific voter record and does not indicate any compromise of the Commission’s broader voter registration infrastructure or the personal data of over 90 million registered voters.
He disclosed that the Department of State Services (DSS) has equally commenced investigation over the case while reaffirming INEC’s commitment to confidentiality and integrity of voters’ data.
“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.
“Furthermore, the Department of State Services (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.” He said.
Members of the public and the media were urged by the commission to disregard unfounded speculations while investigations remain ongoing.