Abuja - Nigeria — Former Liberian President, Professor Amos Sawyer, will lead a 300-member ECOWAS observer mission to Nigeria's 9th April 2011 Presidential election.

Members will be deployed in the country's six political zones to observe the election in which the incumbent, President Goodluck Jonathan of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), will be contesting against 19 other candidates. According to the President of the ECOWAS Commission, His Excellency James Victor Gbeho, the "deployment of the mission is in consonance with the provisions of the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance that requires that such missions are deployed to observe elections in Member States as part of the process of consolidating democracy in West Africa".

The President said the election - one of the three elections to be held over three weeks in the country, including legislative and gubernatorial elections - "would further contribute to consolidating the country's democratic culture and strengthen the region's reputation as a bastion of democracy". He used the opportunity to remind Nigerians of the need to eschew violence and to conform to the electoral laws. He also complimented the efforts of the government in ensuring the enabling environment that would assure a transparent, free and fair election.

Furthermore, he urged all those involved in the conduct of the election to do all in their power to win the confidence of the public and prevent any avoidable election-related acrimony.