Nigeria's top opposition candidate urged the military not to be involved in the upcoming presidential election, saying the army has no role to play in the conduct" of the poll.

Speaking on national television on Tuesday, Atiku Abubakar criticised President Muhammadu Buhari's earlier remarks, in which he ordered Nigeria's security forces to be "ruthless" with those found interfering with the voting process.

Buhari warned that anyone who will try to disturb the vote should do so at the expense of his own life, and Abubakar said Buhari’s remarks are a painful reminder of the era of dictatorship and military rule in Nigeria.

He urged the electoral commission to remain impartial arbiters of the vote as voting is a civil activity.

Nigeria's presidential election initially scheduled for February 16th this year, was at the last minute postponed for a week to February 23rd, raising political tensions in the West African country of over 190 million people.