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2008 Ibrahim Prize Laureate, Ibrahim Prize Committee member, and former President of Botswana Festus Mogae visited Nigeria as part of an international election observation mission organised by the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI).
The 2019 Nigerian presidential elections took place on 23 February and results were made public this week, announcing the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari for a second term.
The polls were originally scheduled for 16 February but were postponed by a week and took place on 23 February.
Mogae called for peaceful elections and reiterated the importance of avoiding violence during this important democratic process:
There should be no violence, please. Violence would not improve anything. Violence only makes things worse. And therefore, we in the observer community - and you would have seen in our statements - both said, collective statements signed by all observer missions, all reiterate the need for peace.
The 40-member international observation mission deployed observers to all six geopolitical zones of the country and included political and civic leaders, election experts and regional specialists from 19 countries, including President Mogae.
