How Regina Daniels’ Voter Card Could Land Her In Jail For 14 Years

Eight years after Nollywood’s most controversial wedding, Nigerian actress Regina Daniels (now 24–27 depending on the document) and billionaire senator Prince Ned Nwoko (66) are locked in the most explosive celebrity divorce war in Nigerian history. At its core is a single question that has evaded answer for eight years: How old was Regina when she married Ned in May 2019?

Investigation by THE WHISTLER, involving live government portals, deleted web archives, and citizen-verified tests, has uncovered what may be called “the clearest case of high-level identity fraud ever attached to a Nigerian senator.”

Regina Daniels was born on 10 October 2001, according to her current international passport, which is still active on the Nigeria Immigration Service portal. That made her 17 years and seven months when she underwent a lavish traditional marriage to Prince Chinedu “Ned” Nwoko, 66, in May 2019.

Yet the same woman holds a Permanent Voter’s Card issued on 23 July 2018, declaring she was born on 10 October 1998 – making her 20 at the time of marriage.

Both documents are genuine. Only one birth date can be true.

The Smoking Passport

On Wednesday evening, activist Omoyele Sowore published a copy of Regina Daniels’s international passport with Full name: REGINA NNEAMAKA FAVOUR OJEGWU and Date of birth: 10/10/2001

THE WHISTLER independently ran a query on the verified Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) portal with Regina’s international passport information. The result was identical.

A senior NIS officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the record is pulled directly from the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) database – the same system that issues National Identity Numbers (NIN).

The Voter Card Ned Posted

Hours later, Senator Nwoko posted Regina’s Permanent Voter’s Card with DOB: 10/10/1998, registered on 23 July 2018.

The INEC portal still displayed the exact record when the VIN was entered by THE WHISTLER.

Ned Nwoko is not just a billionaire. He is a British-trained solicitor who practised law in London for over a decade before returning to Nigeria in the 1990s. He knows evidence, precedent, and how to build a defence before the crime is even alleged.

So when he posted Regina Daniels’ 1998 voter card on Thursday with the caption “She handed me this herself and said, ‘I’m 21’”, the question is no longer “Did he know?”—it’s “Did he plan this eight years ago?”

But here is what Ned did not tell Nigerians: in July 2018, INEC’s Continuous Voter Registration did not require proof of age. Officers in rural wards routinely accepted any date the applicant wrote.

A source inside INEC headquarters in Abuja told THE WHISTLER: “In 2018, we took any date they wrote. No ID, no birth cert. Just a thumbprint.”

Ned didn’t just remember the card. He kept the original — like a lawyer preserving exculpatory evidence. Most husbands don’t file their wives’ PVCs in a safe.

He made sure to do a traditional marriage only – no marriage certificate, no age declaration under oath. A solicitor knows customary law is harder to challenge on age.

The NIN That Refuses To Speak

The biggest red flag emerged on Thursday.

THE WHISTLER tested Regina’s widely circulated NIN (ending 0990) on the official NIMC verification portal. However, the NIN verification portal refuses to return any result – positive or negative – for her widely circulated 11-digit NIN, an anomaly confirmed by THE WHISTLER‘s independent testers.

Every single attempt, regardless of whether 1998, 2000, 2001 or a random date was entered, returned the same chilling message:

“We are unable to verify your NIN at the moment. Please try again later.”

Tech experts say this “soft error” is reserved for only two scenarios: VIP protection lock or active law-enforcement flag.

For every other NIN – including this reporter’s – the portal instantly confirms or rejects within three seconds.

The 2017 Cover-Up

Long before Ned Nwoko entered the picture, Regina’s age was already being inflated.

On 10 October 2017, Regina Daniels posted a now-deleted Instagram video dancing to Sarkodie’s Pain Killer with the caption: “17 never looked this good 💃 #1MillionFollowers” as well as some pictures of herself in no makeup.

The post — and 73 others from that birthday — vanished from Regina’s page between April and June 2019, the exact period marriage rumours exploded.

Veteran actress Mercy Johnson, who in celebration of the teenager took to her IG page and wrote, “I remember the first time I carried this big baby of mine…. ‘Mum’ is what she calls me, and yes, she is my child…

“Happy 16th Birthday, Princess… You are so sweet, respectful and hard-working…. Aunty Rita, you did a great job here… LLNP…party loading…????”.

Every major blog screamed, “Regina Daniels turns 17!” and later deleted it. The only surviving copies exist on the Wayback Machine and dusty Facebook reposts.

What This Means Under Nigerian Law
The Criminal Code defines forgery as “making a false document… by adding any false date… knowing it to be false… with intent that it may be acted upon as genuine.”

Legal analyst Barr. Ekele Ngwobia told THE WHISTLER: “If the 1998 date was entered when Regina was 16, and she knew her age, then the card was possibly used to vote and to convince Ned Nwoko to marry her. That counts as forgery.

“Forgery is criminalised in the Criminal Code Act of Nigeria, specifying imprisonment of up to 14 years.”

Rita Daniels (Regina’s mother) has been one of the most vocal defenders of the marriage since day one, repeatedly insisting in public interviews that her daughter was of legal marriage age and mature enough to decide.

“Regina was almost 20 when she got married. She’s wiser than her age. Why drink Panadol for another person’s headache?” she told BBC Pidgin in an interview in June 2019.

If the passport is authentic, Regina was 17 years and seven months when she underwent a traditional marriage to Senator Ned Nwoko in Delta State in May 2019.

Nigeria’s weak enforcement of child protection laws (especially in customary marriages) and the influence of high-profile figures often delay action. The Child Rights Act (CRA) 2003 prohibits marriage or betrothal under 18 with penalties up to a ₦500,000 fine and/or 5 years’ imprisonment for the adult, parents, or facilitators.

“The Child Rights Act 2003 (CRA) is the primary federal legislation and prohibits marriage for anyone under the age of 18 years. It explicitly states that a marriage contracted by anyone under 18 is invalid,” Barr. Ekele noted.

Another lawyer, Barr. Echezona Stanley stated, “Their traditional (customary) marriage isn’t statutory, but CRA overrides customs; consummation could qualify as defilement of a minor up to life imprisonment if under 16.”

Under UK law, which Ned is a registered solicitor of, sex with an under-16 is statutory rape; even 16-17 requires consent scrutiny. If it is proven that Ned influenced INEC to change Regina’s DOB, it could trigger a UK Solicitors Regulation Authority probe/disbarment.

The NIN suppression suggests active tampering at the highest level of government, and Nigeria’s entire identity infrastructure just proved it cannot tell its citizens apart. The portals don’t lie; someone did.

Until a public release of her original birth certificate is done, Nigeria has two irreconcilable official records for the same citizen and a senator who may have married a minor while possessing a forged age document she herself presented.