Nigeria will hold a presidential election on April 9, 2011, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said on Tuesday, ending months of uncertainty over the timetable for polls in Africa's most populous nation. Parliamentary elections will be held on April 2 and voters will elect governors in the country's 36 states to round off the process on April 16, INEC chief Attahiru Jega told a news conference in the capital Abuja.
The presidential elections are shaping up to be the most fiercely contested since the end of military rule just over a decade ago, with attention focused on who the nominee will be for the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP).