Nigeria’s electoral watchdog today postponed the Presidential and Parliamentary elections for one week, hours before the polls were due to open. Polling was due to start at nearly 1 lakh 20,000 polling units, with a record 73 candidates in the fray.

President Muhammadu Buhari is seeking a second term of office, but is facing a stiff challenge from the main opposition candidate, former vice-president Atiku Abubakar.

After late night emergency talks, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mahmood Yakubu, said the timetable was no longer feasible. He said, the Commission has decided to reschedule the polls to the 23rd of this month.

Parliamentary elections for 360 seats in the lower House of Representatives and 109 seats in the Senate will be held on the same day. Governorship and state assembly elections will be pushed to 9th of next month.

Meanwhile, ahead of the polls, sixty-six people were killed by unidentified gunmen in Kaduna. The state government said in a statement in Abuja that eight settlements were attacked by the gunmen.