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Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo accused acting President Muhammadu Buhari of planning to rig the next national elections in February.
In a statement issued Sunday in the city of Abeokuta, Obasanjo Nigerians have urged Nigerians to oppose any attempt by the government to manipulate the vote.
"I personally have serious doubts as to INEC's current integrity, impartiality and competence to organize fair, free and credible elections", he declares.
Buhari seeks re-election on February 16th. His main opponent is the former Obasanjo deputy, Atiku Abubakar, of the main opposition party, the People's Democratic Party.
Elections in Nigeria, Most populated nation of Africa, are often turbulent affairs, often marked by charges of conspiracy or scam.
Obasanjo too urged voters to vote against Buhari for his failure to handle the country's security crisis.
"The security situation has deteriorated with kidnappings everywhere and Boko Haram is becoming more and more active, no one should deceive Nigerians about it," Obasanjo said.
"This administration is at the end of its sentences, even in the handling of security problems, especially that of Boko Haram, partly because of the misuse of the security apparatus and the bad equipment, deployment, coordination and cooperation, "he added.
"Boko Haram has also been empowered by the Nigerian government by paying a ransom of millions of dollars, which each administration still refuses to falsely."
The former president accused Buhari of having resorted to desperate plans, despite his illness, to remain in power, as did former military dictator Sani Abacha.
"Buhari intimidated and harbaded the private sector, attacked the National Assembly and now, unconstitutionally and inconsiderately, attacked and intimidated the judiciary to convince him to submit," Obasanjo said.
"Today, we live in another time of Abacha, security institutions are being misused to fight detractors and opponents of Buhari and derail our democracy."
Buhari rejects accusations
President Buhari's office rejected the accusations, calling the remarks "very inappropriate" from a former president.
"This wording of his 16-page letter, which compares President Buhari to General Sani Abacha, a man he feared and who imprisoned him under military law, is utterly inappropriate." a former president of Nigeria, Garba Shehu, spokesman for President Buhari.
Shehu called the accusations of rigged and scandalous electoral fraud of the opposition.
"The badertion that President Buhari set up a rigging mechanism is both strange and outrageous.We can not stick to talking about a 90-year-old liar, except to say that his lies against the president, that is Obasanjo, not the president, who falls in esteem, "he added.
Shehu said that Buhari was attacked for his fight against corruption.
"What the former president said is nothing more than a proof of the success of President Buhari's war on corruption," Shehu said.
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