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Residents in the village of Geidam in Yobe State in north-east Nigeria say they have fled an attack by suspected militants so are unable to go to vote.

"We have along with our wives and children and hundreds of others fled. We are right now running and hiding in the bushes," a Geidam resident, Ibrahim Gobi, told Reuters news agency.

The BBC's Kaura Abubakar was told by a Geidam resident that officials said voting in the town would begin at 11 am, but it appeared that most residents had fled.

A Nigerian army spokesman insisted that the military repelled the attack and people have turned out to vote.

The spokesman posted the tweet on a thread about another report of gunfire.

He said that the gunfire heard in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, the state next to Yobe, was just for security purposes and was not targeted at members of the public.